Path of the Heart : The Crystal and the Blade
by wolfygirl13
Summary: It's been a long time since their old foe was vanquished, about ten years. Naraku's death brought a new beginning, an era of peace between the formerly despised brothers. One day, Shippou hears a rumor at the Fox Inn, one he can't ignore. "The Blade of Heaven," they said. There was no mistake. Now he must speak to the smith who created it, and the youkai who weilds it... "T" L, V
1. First Step on the Pathway

**A/N:** After an especially long hiatus from the online fanfiction community, I was inspired to post this story out of my own personal hobby-writing collection. There may or may not eventually be a sequel to this story, but here you go, this is my take on one of the potential future scenarios after the end of the series.

**This takes place roughly ten years after Naraku's death.**

What else? Shippou has grown, that's the first thing you read about. I'm sure that if you're sitting here reading this after the show's been off air for several years now, then I don't have to tell you the meanings of common fanfiction words like "youkai" or "kitsune" or any of that. I mean, if you need that, honestly...you know how to Google it, right? *Note on this: I use "taiyoukai" instead of "daiyoukai" and that's just how it is. Deal with it, people. Same with the way that I spell everyone's names. Not gonna change it for you. Messes with my writing mojo.

**Disclaimer: Nothing owned by anyone else is owned by me. I make no money from this and neither should you.** Unless you own these characters, in which case, I'm honored to have you read my derivative, Rumiko! :)

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

After spending seven years training at the Kitsune Youjuijitsu Academy, Shippou had finally unlocked some secrets to his true power. And after _that_, he'd had an astounding growth spurt when his second tail came in, not to mention the fact that his size increased drastically in both his true form and his normal human form. Now he was about the size of an average human twelve-year-old boy, though since foxes were generally smallish, it could be said that he was more roughly equivalent to the physical maturity of perhaps a human fifteen-year-old.

After a few weeks adjusting to his new size, the fox went to train some more to harness his newfound powers and hone his skills, and he was now learning battle techniques. He trained when he could as Sango and Miroku began to teach their children about form and technique with weapons, and he would also train with Inuyasha to learn what it was to be in a more serous fight, with Kagome and Kaede and Rin to learn to anticipate and even counter some of the lesser spiritual powers...with Kohaku and Kirara to test his agility, or sometimes with Jaken and Ah-Un. Sesshoumaru had even deigned to let the kitsune play-fight him about four times, though it was laughably easy for the taiyoukai to defeat the foxling, regardless of using nothing but his fists against all of Shippou's tricks.

See, in the past decade, Sesshoumaru had become a "begrudging" member of their little tribe. After leaving Rin at the village, _not_ picking fights with Inuyasha _or_ being a self-righteous asshole for a long time, it was just inevitable. The brothers got along, and with them, the rest of the friends soon followed suit. _**[**Well **actually,** the rest of the friends had already begun to get along for some time now, but now Jaken didn't have to pretend he hated everyone for it.**]**_ Nowadays it was nothing to have the dog stop by and spend half the day with Rin, letting her hand him flowers and whatnot, then spending the night chatting with his brother, so on and so forth.

Now, three years after his growth spurt, about ten years since the start of his training, Shippou had discovered, by way of murmurs from the travellers at the Maboroshi Inn, that there was something very valuable waiting to be found.

It wasn't something most youkai would be interested to find, and honestly, he almost missed it himself. Had he not been privy to a certain little-known fact, and had he not heard an obscure reference to it, he wouldn't have known.

Sitting in the main entertainment area where several young tricksters tested out their womanly disguises on the few men that had walked inside, Shippou, using his now-perfected Hidden Cloud invisibility technique, was waiting for a chance to pull something really good instead of just common routine pranks.

As he did so, of course he was listening to their conversation. Not only was it informative, but there wasn't much else to listen to except for the chortles of the girly-looking foxes nearby, which was useless. Shippou often had the forethought these days to figure out what these people would react to the most, but this night he was catching a different kind of chatter altogether.

"If we find this great treasure of yours, how do you suppose we even **_use_** it?" one of the men asked the other.

"I will need to track down the fabled sword," the other replied, taking a sip of sake, "the Blade of Heaven, and we must unlock the secret of weilding it."

"Blade of Heaven?" the other man scratched his head, "Do you mean it came from the _stars_?"

"I'm not sure. There's tell it came from a youkai, though it's hard to believe something so benevolent would have been crafted by an _evil demon_," the apparent leader sighed and crossed his arms, leaning his back against the wall as his eyes closed while he recounted what he knew. "However, as the tale goes, long ago this youkai fell in love with a human and had the sword made because it warded against the evils that may try to kill her. Legends say that this Blade of Heaven has a special connection to the Netherworld, and when it's used with the Crystal of Souls, it can bring a soul back to life even if they've been dead for a long time. However, it's said that a false or vacant body must be present for that soul, or else it will have nowhere to reside and will wander the lands, lost forever until the madness drives it to become an evil spirit."

"So how do you plan to have a decent body layin' around, huh?"

The man sighed and glanced over at his comrade, clearly finding him foolish.

"I'm going to have to make one of two choices. I can create a body, or find a fresh one to kill. I'm not yet sure. It's not that I _want_ to kill needlessly, but..."

Here, a third man who had been previously preoccupied stood and walked over, almost as if on cue, and sat with them for a moment. Then he reached over and gripped the leader's shoulder firmly and sloshed the sake jug before him.

"You _know_ you ain't gonna _kill_ no woman to put her in some girl's body. We'll find a sculptor or somethin' like that so you can get your wife back," he hiccupped and shoved the jug into the mans hands, "now drink, be merry!"

Shippou studied them for a bit longer, then decided to pull the old one-two switch. Turning himself into a bug, he flitted over to a fox's shoulder and whispered in their ear, and they smiled and led off the drunken man for a few minutes of harmless teasing.

Once the man was out of sight, Shippou waited about three minutes, went around the corner, and transformed into the likeness of the absent man, swaying and plopping down heavily and hiccupping as he slurred out his question.

"So remind me," he drawled, blinking unevenly, "where'sa place we's goin' to fer the Crystal again? Should we stock up on, on sake?" he grinned as he sloshed the jug, red-faced like any other drunk.

Well, he was certainly convincing. The other men didn't spare a second glance.

"I told you, we've still got five more days of hard riding to go, and that's assuming we can keep enough food and water in the horses to keep them at a gallop. I'm guessing it's actually going to take about a week, and we've got to get all the way up the same mountain where the Northern Lord's castle is, only we're going along the other path. There's supposed to be a cave near there, one with a labyrinth inside, and whomever solves it earns the prize. If we're able to figure out the puzzle, we'll get the Crystal of Souls and be one step closer to bringing her back."

"Ya'think there's *hic* monsters in there?"

"I already told you the last time you asked me that," the man grumbled, "that's what we brought swords for, idiot."

"I *hic* forgot."

"You always forget," the man muttered.

Shippou heard a certain creak on a certain floorboard, and toddled to his feet unsteadily, swerving and swaying on his way towards the real man just down the hall, "I gotta *hic* take a leak!"

And as he went past the corner, he dropped his disguise, and about a minute later the real man sat with his friends again and started laughing with them jovially.

Shippou didn't bother to catch the slip of paper that fluttered to the ground in front of him. He had other things on his mind besides the menial points he'd gotten for the switch, and he spent the rest of the night skirting around to see what else they might say about the matter.

But as the night waned, he learned nothing else of real value, and he dipped out once they fell asleep, signing out of his training session to go and seek out a certain few friends...

But not, he decided, the one that had the Blade of Heaven. No, he was going to speak to select few others before he would risk enraging or getting up anyone's hopes.

.'.'.'.

"Toutousai," Shippou called as he landed at the forge, "Myouga, where are you two old geezers? I see Moumou, I know at least one of you is here!"

"Oh, Shippou, it's you," Toutousai yawned and stretched, and Shippou felt a tiny pressure hit his neck just as an oh so familiar flea bit into him.

Shippou sighed and plucked Myouga off his neck.

"It's _really_ difficult to respect your elders when they're sucking the blood out of you before they even say hello."

"Uh, hello, Shippou," Myouga said almost apologetically, and the fox shook his head and sighed. It was hopeless.

"I came to ask you guys what you know about this thing I heard some people talking about at the Fox Inn. Do you know anything about the Crystal of Souls?"

Toutousai and Myouga went eerily quiet for a moment, glancing at each other, then they both blinked at Shippou.

"What do you know of it, Shippou? How have you heard of such an old relic? It's tales are nearly obsolete."

"I told you, I heard people talking about it at the Fox Inn. Just some travellers looking for it. They didn't say a lot, but what they did say made me curious. Tell me, Myouga, Toutousai...why do I get this feeling you know _a lot_ about that Crystal they're talking about?"

Myouga seemed apprehensive, but Toutousai began to give the fox an answer.

"Uh, well, that's because part of it was used to reforge Tenseiga after it was split from Tetsusaiga, to give it the powers that Touga wanted it to have. Just taking the Meidou from Shishinki wasn't enough to solidify the ability to raise the dead, y'know. Ever seen the Meidou resurrect anyone? And you notice, the Tenseiga still brings back the dead even without it. The secret to that is the way it was forged, with a piece of that same Crystal you speak of. Tetsusaiga absorbs jyaki, and even shouki, but that's not the power the Crystal holds. It couldn't take that away."

"So that Crystal has the power to bring back the dead?" Shippou gasped.

"Hmm, not exactly. It has the power to bridge the connection between this world and the next, but in the reverse of the direction of the Meidou, from the realm of the dead to the realm of the living. At least, that's the theory. The biggest problem with that is there wasn't a good way to make sure it got the right soul. The Crystal was a natural phenomenon. Some say it was bathed in the blood of a heavenly dragon, others say it was plucked from the depths of hell by a priest...I have no idea where it really came from, but what I do know is that all by itself it was impossible to use accurately or effectively, at least not for what Touga wanted to do. That was why the old Dog Lord needed the sword made instead of just taking the Crystal. That and the fact that he was the first to find it after it vanished."

"So in order to use the Crystal the right way, Tenseiga has to be used with it?"

"Indeed, but it's very dangerous, and not just because you have to consider that the soul needs a body, but also due to the fact that the soul needs a Purpose."

"A...Purpose?" Shippou raised his eyebrows.

"Listen, Shippou. Most souls get reincarnated after a long time, right? We've seen this in knowing that it was about five-hundred years between Kikyou's death and Kagome's rebirth with the Sacred Jewel. Did Kagome recall any of the memories of Kikyou? Did she recognize the village, the people, the names, the faces? Did she know anybody?"

"Uhm, well you got a point there, I guess...but I'm not sure I see where you're going with this."

"A soul that's long-dead will begin to forget it's life," Myouga took up part of the explanation, sitting in a very sagely manner as he often did for his talks, "and thus it's important to not only be mindful of that, but also to make sure there's an actual reason why that soul would want to come back. We all saw how difficult it was for poor Kikyou to readjust to walking among the living again, and truly, one whose body is false cannot feel alive as the others around them do. Not only that, but as far as anyone can tell, the journey from the other side is rather an arduous and difficult one. I suppose that if someone were to use the Meidou to go there first and then use Tenseiga together with the Crystal, they might be able to assist the soul they're trying to save, but that's speculation and nothing more. It's never been done successfully."

"But Kikyou remembered things..."

"Well, her soul was already reincarnated in a living body, so that was very different. Remember though, very few of Urasue's clay puppets were alive in the same sense as she, and the old witch dedicated most of her studies to the subject for an extraordinarily long time."

"You got a point there," Shippou agreed. "But, wait...now that Tetsusaiga has absorbed the Meidou..."

"Uncertain," Toutousai shrugged.

Shippou didn't sense any dishonesty there, so he dropped it for the moment, instead focusing on the travellers he'd first heard about the Crystal from.

"So...should I be trying to stop these guys who are trying to find it, or...?"

"Well, they're just humans, so I doubt they have any way of knowing how to use any of it, and they can forget about getting Tenseiga altogether, but maybe it shouldn't be allowed...eh, that is, the moving of the Crystal from the sacred cave in which it lies dormant," Toutousai scratched his head, "although I'm not sure I recall why it's there to begin with, honestly."

"Because it has vast powers that can be used for evil," Myouga huffed, "yes, Shippou, you should find a way to make sure these mere humans do not approach or remove the Crystal. But I think it should be simple enough to get there first and make a false cave, with a false Crystal, with your fox magic, and once they find out it's an illusion I think they'll just assume it was a lie all along, or at least they'll go look elsewhere for it."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Shippou frowned, "I mean, I'd feel a little bad, but those guys have no business in trying to get themselves into the trouble an artifact like that could cause them, so I won't feel Too Bad about it."

"You're right about that one," Toutousai started digging at his earwax absently.

"So why haven't either of you suggested I talk to Sesshoumaru about this?"

There was a much longer silence now than there was before.

"It's not for the long-dead to rejoin the living," Toutousai finally spoke something like an answer.

"He's right, and that's that," Myouga agreed with a firm nod.

"I never said I was gonna suggest he resurrect somebody. What aren't you telling me that's so important?" Shippou narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously.

They were silent for another couple of minutes.

"Not only are all the worst aspects of Kikyou's suffering a very real probability for any revived soul, and worse, but there's also the matter of the way that kind of temptation can twist a person's mind. That's a dangerous and poorly understood power to try and weild. Imagine, if you will, that you could resurrect anyone from the past, oh, let's say three-hundred years. Just think of all the people you'd bring back. Your parents. Your friends. And you would keep doing it for a long time. You'd watch your human friends pass away from old age, and you would call the soul back to keep away the grief in your own heart. Perhaps they would be grateful, but would they really appreciate being alive two, three, ten times longer than normal? And what does that do to the balance of souls in the greater scheme of things?" Myouga sighed. "There are too many factors, and with no offense intended, Lord Sesshoumaru is still...young. I'm proud of the progress he's made this past decade, but understand, Shippou...he's over nine-hundred years old, and I'm more than double that. The change is still very fresh in our years...something I'm sure you're only starting to grasp now that you've just recently passed a hundred years old and got your second tail."

"Yeah, I suppose you've got some valid points there," Shippou furrowed his brow, "but the real question is, what are the odds that I'd ever be able to do something that had anything to do with Tenseiga and be able to hide it from him for very long? If the sword was made from that Crystal, don't you think it's going to react?"

"Well, not if you don't do anything to it," Myouga said quite matter-of-factly. "Remember, all you have to do is get the humans to leave it undisturbed with some basic illusions. You don't need to bother it yourself. It's simple."

Somehow, the moment the flea said it, a feeling of heavy dread fell upon them.

"You just **jynxed** it_,_" Toutousai groaned, hanging his head as if he knew it was already doomed.

"Don't say that," Myouga groaned, "**_it's a simple task!_**"

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

Uh-Oh! Whatcha think is gonna happen next? Keep reading to find out! =^-^= .-'.-'.-'.-'.


	2. Historical Prequels

**A/N:** As an author, I tend to write the way I think, which is erratically. This often reflects in my sometimes abrupt transitions from _a direct thought as it sounds in the mind of the character_ to the simple omniscient point of view describing a thought in great detail. Then sometimes there's _**emphasis on a thought,**_ or Emphasis In General, and **Sometimes**, there's even MORE **EMPHASIS** than **THAT!**

However, at other times I might use these font variations to represent other distinctions as well, or perhaps I won't feel like using them at all, which is actually much more common with me, since I like to rely on character conveyance more than visual accents. _*****__**[In fact, this story was written in Notepad and I only did the bold/italics/underline after uploading the base documents. So what you really see is the extent of my patience with re-editing., chapter by chapter...]***_

Later on, though I won't spoil it for you, you'll cleverly deduce one of my aforementioned variations, and you'll do it all on your own too, because I won't tell you at the start of that chapter.

There's also the matter of dividing marks, which I use to sometimes separate .'.'.'. different scenes .'.'.'. or ...'.'.'.'.'... visions ...'.'.'.'.'... into more effective distinctions. Note that sometimes there are still interjections, from outside the vision as a thought of an observer for example, and these marks are meant to help with the ease of reading and discerning where one scene ends and another begins. To use an analogy, they aren't necessarily doors as much as transition strips between carpet and hardwood floor.

.

This much longer dividing mark beneath this sentence separates the bullshit here from the Actual Story. **[**Yes, _now_ I've stated the obvious a sufficient number of times to have condescended to you. _You may continue reading_.**]**

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

Two days later, Toutousai, Moumou, Myouga, Shippou, and two of Shippou's devout apprentices were at the cave.

Yes, Shippou had a following of sorts. Just as the five foxling brothers from long ago, word of Shippou the Mighty, Fox Warrior and Slayer of Naraku, Master of Trickster Arts...well, that and his rapid ascension through the ranks of the Kitsune Youjuijitsu Academy made him a very popular fellow indeed. So he'd found the nearest two reasonably capable foxlings he knew and brought them along to help stabilize the simpler aspects of the illusion. It was much easier to keep all the details in order if some other fox was keeping up the disguise over the real cave and another was helping divert or lure the travellers to the proper spot for the complex illusion.

Toutousai and Myouga secretly marvelled as Shippou fell to the task swiftly once they arrived.

"Maku, Saitou, from what I've seen you two are decent at keeping up some stable illusions. Maku, you're pretty fast and you do better with your transformations, so I want you to be on patrol point. You'll make sure they don't have a reason to try and push at the illusions or look too close, that they get over here instead. Saitou, you've got great skills with camoflauge and scenery illusions, so I need you to make sure that cave and the whole pathway in front of it looks like something they'd never suspect as an entrance to a cave. Don't worry about doing anything just yet, I wager it's gonna be at least another three days before they get here, and that's at top speed. During that time, I want you two to start taking up scout patrols. This is a little advanced for where you are in the Academy, but you may as well learn now, while you're in the first stages of war-camp. And don't forget to mask your scents and cover your tracks! We're **Foxes**, not _deer_!"

"**Hai, Sensei Shippou!**" they both snapped a pose of attention before splitting off into opposite directions and going round in overlapping circular patrols, one of the simpler maneuvers taught to cadets who were training to move with a war-camp, whether they were going to be soldiers, mages, healers, tacticians, advisors, or recovery teams.

"He handles leadership roles quite well, have you noticed that?" Toutousai remarked from up above on Moumou's back.

"Indeed, he always has," Myouga chuckled, recalling several run-ins with Akitoki Hojou, among others.

"Toutousai, Myouga!" Shippou called once the apprentices were gone, "Let's go in and make sure it's intact."

"Here we go, you had to say it," Toutousai sighed and lowered his gaze at the flea. "_Now_ what do we do?"

Myouga frowned and crossed his arms.

"We really have no choice, do we?"

"I don't suppose we do."

"Then we must."

"Indeed, we must."

Myouga paused, then started to cry.

"I don't wanna think about what's gonna happen if this all goes wrong!"

"Oh, me neither," Toutousai shuddered, but Moumou began to fly into the cave as the fox beckoned. Somehow the old girl knew the cowardly geezers had something important to do here, and she dragged them to their undecided fate.

.'.'.'.

Sesshoumaru paused as the Tenseiga fluttered, then lifted his nose against the breeze and sniffed about.

_There is no scent of death or someone dying, nor of Inuyasha and Tetsusaiga._ Tenseiga hadn't bespoken an impulse or thought, direction or purpose or sensation of any kind. Over time he'd learned it's subtle moods, it's tugs and it's way of telling him which way to walk when a soul needed saved. He'd stopped resisting it...

But this, this was just a soft pulse, nothing more. _So faint,_ he thought, _perhaps I just imagined it._

Somehow, though, he just Knew he didn't.

.'.'.'.

Shippou studied the entrance to the maze before them, then smiled as he pulled out several leaves.

"This will be over soon. I learned something valuable about mazes...never go into the danger yourself, when you can go as yourselves without any risk at all. Multiply!" he flicked out the leaves, and a dozen copies of him began to scatter and navigate the labyrinth with amazing speed, although all but two of them were destroyed by the traps they encountered along the way.

Yet that was honestly the purpose of doing it that way, and Shippou smiled as he led them through the correct path, skirting around one of the traps that wasn't disarmed, and again they were impressed by his clever use of talents. Finally in the chamber where the Crystal of Souls was concealed, they observed that it was inside a sealed box on a dusty pedestal at the far end of the room, which was further protected by a barrier around the whole thing.

Shippou furrowed his brow, then glanced at the two old youkai.

"You were afraid that something would happen to it after _all of that?_ It would take a normal person or youkai a long time to get through that maze, if they even survived it, and then after they get through that, there's still a real strong barrier and what looks and seems to be a very powerful sealing spell on it. Why were you so worried?"

"N-no reason, c'mon and let's go then, looks like everything is in order," Toutousai stammered and tried to get his cow Moumou to turn around, but she mooed loudly and refused to leave the cave.

Had it not been for that very strange behavior from the otherwise docile and _Seemingly_ Dumb simple animal youkai, Shippou might have thought nothing else of it. He'd have shook it off as perhaps bad memories of a long-ago event, something silly like that. But as Moumou stayed in place, Toutousai and Myouga nearly shot through the roof, then panicked and leaped off her back to bolt back into the maze.

"Hey, wait, come back!" Shippou called, but they were gone so fast they left billowing clouds of dust trails.

Moumou mooed again rather insistently, and Shippou realized she was trying to draw his attention.

Then, the cow did something the fox had only seen once before. From her three eyes a light projected onto the wall just above and slightly behind the artifact, and the cow played a scene from times long past...

...'.'.'.'.'...

It depicted Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's Father, whom Toutousai and even on occasion Myouga had referred to as Touga-although Shippou had always thought of him as InuTaishou, but that was actually just a title. In this scenario, he was speaking to Toutousai about what he wanted.

"Wow, Toutousai looked young back then...and so did InuTaishou. I mean, Lord Touga," Shippou corrected himself. He studied the dog's softer features, slighter build, and much less heavily-armored attire, at least compared to the one time he'd seen the spirit form after the fight with Sou'unga. He looked about Sesshoumaru's age, although to be honest that could be any age at all for a taiyoukai such as he.

However, seeing Toutousai look about the equivalent of a forty-something year old man instead of the old geezer he was now gave Shippou an indication of just How Long Ago this was.

"So you see, Toutousai, you're the only smith worthy of crafting this blade," Touga flashed a charismatic grin.

_Oh, geez._ Shippou heard a familiar tone and realized he was about to see a side of Touga he'd never imagined.

"Tetsusaiga, you say? And you want it to be able to take on Shishinki, to literally Absorb the Meidou? But...why?"

"Because Shishinki has been undefeated for too long," Touga shrugged, yet his all-too-innocent answer was hiding a secret that he wasn't ready to disclose yet, something Shippou was fascinated to watch. _Was this the moment when the planning began, the creation of Tetsusaiga...not to protect a human, but to destroy Shishinki?_

_Wait a minute, if that was the case..._

"Is this because of that human?" Shippou heard Toutousai's voice as Moumou's image fixated on Touga's face. Shippou presumed this was due to the way that the visions appeared to Moumou, what she focused on, which eye she used maybe.

"Shishinki had no right to do that," Touga said quietly, "whether the child was a human or not. Though he may never know it, the day he did those unspeakable things was the day he **died.** _I will **avenge** her_."

"If I were you," Toutousai said with a shrug, "I'd take a few weeks to cool off and just find another pet. It's not worth fighting somebody like Shishinki."

"_Pet?!_" Touga snarled, leaping to his feet, "**_PET?!_** Listen, **old man,** you might not know me very well, but here's _one thing_ you need to understand **right now**. _Humans aren't **slaves,** servants, cattle, **prey,** or **PETS.**_ They _think_ and they **feel** and they **_Love._** They express emotions that most _youkai_ are too _**Afraid**_ to show! You feel all those so-called Weak Human Emotions just as I do, just as all natural-born youkai. Yet you and everyone else would rather pretend that it would be _unfitting_ to show them because it would make us _weak_. You're all _pathetic_. **Love** is no weakness. It is vast and immeasurable, and powerful beyond compare. And _I will **avenge** her_, not out of _hate_ for Shishinki, but out of _**love**_ for a human girl who was like a **_Daughter_** to me. She was _Never my **Pet,**_** Toutousai.** _Don't you **forget it!**_" Touga hissed.

Shippou gasped in wonderment, seeing both brothers reflected as the halves of their father all in that one scene. A conversation that sounded like one of Inuyasha's, with an eerily similar situation to that of Sesshoumaru and Rin.

"Alright, okay," the smith put up his hands appeasingly, "I'm not sure this is really gonna work the way you want it to, but I'll do it. I need that fang," Toutousai said as he pointed with his tongs, "the long one there."

Touga opened his mouth, but as Toutousai yanked to dislodge the tooth, it snapped and broke right near the gumline.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Touga raised an eyebrow, wincing and covering his mouth with his hand.

"Uh...y-yes, yes indeed," Toutousai said nervously, "that's exactly so. I'll have the sword ready in two months."

"Good. It can't be done soon enough."

"And just whaddya suppose yer gonna pay me with, hmm?"

"Don't you even _know_ who _I Am_?" Touga blinked at the smith.

"Not a habit of mine to keep up with unfamiliar uppity youngsters who go picking fights to get themselves killed."

"I'm Touga, First Lieutenant of the Moon-Dog Clan. You may have heard tales of my Glorious Conquests," he grinned.

"_Conquests?_ And here you were telling me you wanted this sword to _protect_ humans from Shishinki. Tell me, Touga, if you even understand how a living sword made from your own fang will react to your heart's desires...**_do you?_**"

Touga raised both eyebrows.

"Huh?"

"This sword you want me to make, from your own fang...it will be linked to you for all your life. And if you want to have the sword crafted to protect humans, then it will gain it's strength, _not truly from defeating enemies,_ but from the conviction **in your own heart**. If you wish to defeat your foes, I can make you a blade to cut through the mightiest of enemies. But this Tetsusaiga of yours will be a _pitiful_ blade indeed if you desire Conquest more than you yearn to _protect_ the people you care about. You can't really have it both ways. Lust for power corrupts the very thing you need to protect somebody...**compassion**. I suggest you think over what you're asking of me very carefully before I continue making this blade. We wouldn't want to waste your fang on the wrong kind of weapon, now would we?"

Touga stood there with a thoughtful look on his face, and the image faded out as the cow's projection fuzzed dark.

...'.'.'.'.'...

Shippou was in awe. He'd glimpsed a piece of history that he dared to wager wasn't a well-known fact. And he'd now learned something else important.

_Tetsusaiga had been Made to absorb the Meidou...which means it was forged specifically to create Tenseiga._ Having heard enough between the time they came upon Shishinki fighting Sesshoumaru and this new information, Shippou put the pieces together easily from there. _Touga had Toutousai forge the Tetsusaiga, to steal the Meidou from Shishinki, not only to defeat him, but to use the technique himself, or at least try to._ Having captured the essence of the link to the Netherworld, Touga went back and had Toutousai cast a new sword which could be reforged with the Crystal of Souls into a blade specifically designed to resurrect, since apparently Tetsusaiga in it's energy-stealing form wouldn't be able to do it.

_So...the Purpose of Tetsusaiga had been hidden in **Tenseiga's** truest ability after all!_

"That must have been why it reformed out of the Meidou, even though it was broken on Tetsusaiga," Shippou gasped as the realization clicked. "It couldn't be destroyed inside the very energy it was created from. Incredible...huh, I wonder if Touga knew that though."

Moumou mooed at the fox and looked over at the pedestal, and Shippou furrowed his brow at her.

"What's wrong, Moumou? You seem awful insistent. I'm not sure if you're upset or just anxious, but whatever it is, I'm definitely sure I don't understand what you want me to do about it," Shippou huffed.

Moumou snorted loudly and turned her head a few times, as if to express slight agitation, then stilled herself and projected more images onto the walls.

...'.'.'.'.'...

Toutousai was sitting at the forge, frowning as he looked over the fang he'd broken off.

"Moumou, you think I should take the other one instead?"

A slightly higher-pitched moo seemed to disagree.

"Hmm, indeed. From a youkai with an aura as strong as his, I won't really need the root of the fang. Besides, it's not a big deal anyways, is it?"

No sooner had he spoken than Touga stomped into the forge, and Shippou saw where Inuyasha had gotten his attitude.

"Hey, _**T****outousai,**_" Touga growled, and the fox chuckled softly. _Yup, definitely Inuyasha's Dad alright!_

"Eh, hello. It's been a while, hmm?"

"You didn't **_tell me_**_ it wouldn't grow back_ if you didn't take the whole thing!" Touga yelled, pointing to the half of a fang still in his mouth.

Toutousai blinked. Then, sharp as a whip, he smiled at the dog.

"Well, think of it this way, Lieutenant. Everyone will know your sword is made of your own fang, and you'll have a way to dare anyone to prove they can knock out your tooth. Because until they do, you'll always have a sign that you can't be touched, and it's a direct link to your sword."

Shippou sweatdropped. _**THAT** was why the old dog's tooth was still only half a fang at the gravesite**?!**_

"Hey, that's actually pretty clever. I like it, swordsmith," Touga patted his back. "So, I've been thinking about a lot of what you said. And it seems to me that you're right. I can't have it both ways."

"Then I'm to make you a weapon to defeat your enemies?"

"No," Touga shook his head, "I want to protect people. I've decided to give up my pursuit of power and to dedicate myself to helping those who are in need of a savior. I'll beat Shishinki alright, and when I do, I'll need you to do something that will make you even more legendary if you pull it off."

"Oh? How so, Lieutenant?" Toutousai chuckled, clearly not believing him, but indulging the dog's whims.

"I'll bring back the Tetsusaiga with the power of the Meidou harnessed inside, and you'll use that to reforge it into another sword, one that can bring her back using the Meidou Path to resurrect the innocent who were slain."

"Ooohhh, _indeed!_ And I suppose you'd know how to make sure you got the right soul, hmm?" Toutousai crossed his arms.

"The...the right soul? But of course! I would...I'd have to...go find them."

"Listen, it's not that simple, or else Shishinki himself would resurrect his loyal servants all the time, don't you think? If it were that easy, he'd have figured it out and started doing it by now. No, there's rules, limits, and certain methods to resurrecting people. You can't just take the Meidou Zangetsuha and expect to be able to use that power in a way you don't even understand. You would need to tailor it to your own abilities. You're not _Shishinki._"

"So you're telling me...it can't be done?" Touga's face fell a bit.

"Oh, nonsense, I can do it," Toutousai huffed, "just not with _only_ the Meidou Zangetsuha. You'll also need some way to harmonize the energies into a technique you'll be able to use to do what you want without undue effort. However, I'm afraid that if all you want is to bring back a person long-dead, it may be beyond your reach. We can try, but I only promise that I can make something that will draw back the soul **_Before_** it has moved on from the mortal plane. And because of that, it will probably only work on the same person once. A soul doesn't tend to linger the second time they die, y'know."

"I have to **_try,_**" Touga said, raising one clenched fist in emphatic determination. "Make me this sword, Toutousai, and I'll pay you **any** price."

"Very well, come back in, oh, three months."

"I thought you said two months when I asked you before," Touga blinked.

"I did, but that was then, and this is now, and you've asked for a _much_ more complicated sword than before. I'll have to adjust my techniques greatly."

"Fine, make sure it's done in three months when I come back for it," Touga huffed, turning about to leave.

"Just one more thing, Touga," Toutousai said quietly, and the dog paused.

"What's that?"

"You'll need to find a sacred object after you have the Meidou. Before you've beaten Shishinki, it's pointless to fetch it. As soon as you destroy him, though, you must seek out the Crystal of Souls. I'm telling you now, because though many smiths have heard of this item, _none_ have been able to find it. You've got a lot of clout and resources, perhaps if you start searching now, you'll have some luck by the time you need it. Without that, though...I'm not sure you'd be able to do what you want, or control Meidou Zangetsuha like Shishinki. After all, Shishinki was born to that jyaki as much as you were born with a keen nose."

"You mean, Shishinki was _born_ of _death?_" Touga frowned, then added, "You seem to know an awful lot about him."

"Shishinki was raised near the place where I learned my trade," Toutousai shrugged. "His father was a being born of the Netherworld itself, and his mother was a mistress of the dark arts who gave her soul to him and bore his child. He was always attuned to that energy, the jyaki that allows him to easily weild the powers he has now. For another who has no blood connection to the Netherworld, and no affiliaton with the dark arts or anything similar, though, it would be very difficult to harness that power."

"I understand, Toutousai. I'll find out everything I can about this Crystal of Souls," Touga nodded as he left.

...'.'.'.'.'...

Moumou blinked away her projection from the past again, and Shippou petted her head absently as he thought over all that he'd learned from her. She was an awful lot smarter than anyone gave her credit for, the fox realized idly.

_So Touga had made the Tetsusaiga to take the Meidou to make the Tenseiga to resurrect a human. And the power of the Crystal is what allowed that energy to be harnessed by a youkai who wasn't inherently connected to the Netherworld._

_But that still didn't answer what was so important that Moumou wouldn't move from the spot Now._

"Moumou, I'm happy to have learned all that you just showed me, but what does it have to do with what's going on in the here and now? Far as I figure, we were only here to make sure it was safe and keep those humans away from it. I don't really understand why you're not leaving."

Moumou mooed and snorted softly, turning to gaze at the fox for a moment, then she took a few steps closer to the barrier and **mooed** at it more loudly.

The Crystal seemed to pulse just slightly as she did so, and Shippou gasped.

"Moumou, what are you _doing?_ Are you trying to get it out of here? But why?"

Moumou stomped one foot on the ground, as if highly irritated that her attempt had done so little, then she lifted her head and blinked her three eyes again as yet another projection played across the walls.

...'.'.'.'.'...

This time, Tetsusaiga had already been made, and Toutousai was looking at it with a pensive concentration.

"So you've beaten Shishinki. Have you tried the Meidou Zangetsuha yourself yet?"

"I attacked him with it once, but I didn't try to travel through it, no. I came here straightaway. And I have the Crystal of Souls," Touga said, pulling a large, jagged crystal that was pulsing with energy from his chest pocket.

"Indeed, that is the right one," Toutousai murmured, amazed that this uppity dog had found the fabled crystal so fast. In truth, he'd thought it would never be found.

"Now, Toutousai, make the Tenseiga."

"You realize that the Meidou Zangetsuha will be very different as part of a new sword...and just like Tetsusaiga, it's not going to work very well if you swing it around callously. These blades must resonate with your heart."

"I know that. Why do you _constantly_ question my heart?"

"Tetsusaiga is a blade that cuts. It will _always_ be a blade that cuts. That is the _nature_ of that sword. Tenseiga, though, will be a sword which you mean to use to bring back the dead. Therefore it must cut down those born of the Netherworld...but then it would be difficult to also give it the power to destroy the living. The Meidou Zangetsuha was never intended to be extracted for it's connection to the Netherworld, but once it is, then it's energy will be stripped down to the most basic form. If you wanted to use the Meidou Zangetsuha for an attack, you'd have to go and train it all over again, and that would, in itself, be a hindrance to the sword's powers. It feeds on** compassion,** on your **love** for humans and desire to _protect_ them, not on the lust for _power_. Are you **_still sure_** you want to sacrifice this powerful technique to create a sword you essentially cannot kill your enemies with? It'd almost be a waste..."

"I'm positive, Toutousai. **_N__o_ _technique_** holds as much value as her life," Touga said firmly.

"Hmm, I see that you truly believe that. And you have brought the Crystal. Very well, I shall do as you ask. But you may yet need help from one more source..."

"And who's that?"

Toutousai cringed slightly, about to say something he knew would displease the dog.

"You're of the Moon-Dog Clan, so you probably know of the Ice Sorceress..."

"Oh, _**Her?**_" Touga raised an eyebrow, "Yes, of course. But why would I need to speak to **_that_ **crazy bitch?"

"Because she holds the key to combining these powers in the final stages of crafting this sword. The Meidou-seiki, the powerful gem which can summon creatures from the Netherworld, a jewel which was made from soaking a strong soul crystal much like this one in the blood of Shishinki's own father. She can unleash one of her Meidou hounds for you to test whether Tenseiga can defeat the minions of the Netherworld, _before_ you try to navigate it blindly. And with her experience in the matter, you may just want to have her guidance when you attempt to bring back the dead."

"I _guess_ I'll go see her, then...but I hear she charges a hefty price even when she _does_ help..."

"It wouldn't hurt to sniff around," Toutousai said cleverly, and Touga rolled his eyes at the smith.

"Just get the forging done, I'll be back when it's ready," he muttered as he left.

"I didn't even tell him how long it would take," Toutousai blinked, then shrugged, "well, I'll send for him then."

...'.'.'.'.'...

Shippou almost expected the scene to end there, but it didn't. Instead, although looking a bit more fuzzy and with a lot less color, he got to see Moumou's divinations of what he presumed to be Touga's first meeting with Sesshoumaru's mother.

_Oh, wow,_ the fox thought. This was incredibly exciting...and, mischievously, he felt like he was getting all kinds of great dirt to blackmail...well, okay, that was a bad idea in itself, but he couldn't help but think of it.

Just one thing about all of this bothered him, though. He'd thought that Sesshoumaru's Mother had been given the Meidou-seiki not long before Touga died. _How was it that the story had gotten so confused?_

There wasn't much time for him to dwell on that thought, for the scene unfolded in front of his curious eyes.

...'.'.'.'.'...

"Ah, First Lieutenant Touga. I was expecting to see you soon."

_Wow, stunner._ Shippou almost did a double-take at seeing the younger Lady..._Lady...well actually...Jaken had only ever called her Lady Mother. Huh. I don't know her name._

"Ice Sorceress," he nodded, addressing her by title, "I thought perhaps you'd noticed some particular events, but I must be honest when I tell you that I had no plans to visit. Were it not for my swordsmith's suggestion, I'd be out attending other matters."

"Indeed you would," she said icily, true to her nature, then gestured towards the sitting area outside, "Tea?"

"You will insist, I suppose."

"Yes, I will."

"Very well," he sighed and sat down.

A few attendants brought tea. There was relative silence for a couple minutes as they sipped and said nothing.

Finally, formalities sufficiently appeased, Touga cleared his throat and began to speak.

"I'm currently having a sword crafted which will be able to defeat the creatures in the Netherworld in order to save the souls of the dead. It was suggested that I ask you to summon a creature, once the sword is ready of course, and allow me to test the blade on it instead of travelling through the entrance to the Netherworld to find that I'm not able to slay those I must defeat to accomplish my goal."

"Very well, but I require payment."

"I expected you would..." Touga eyed her warily, "what is your price?"

She smiled.

"I've been wanting to find a worthy mate to give me a litter of pups. You strike my fancy, and you're not married. Elope with me until I am sure to bear children, and I shall do this deed for you."

"_**Children?!**_" he yelped and leaped out of his chair, flipping the table to the side and spilling everything in the process.

Shippou laughed pretty hard as he saw **_That_ **reaction.

"Yes, children. Oh, don't worry, you'll have your firstborn son as your own heir. I claim the firstborn daughter as my heiress, of course. I suppose you have every right to want the second son too, just in case the first dies and cannot continue your legcay-"

"I mean no disrespect when I say this, but I'm not sure I'm _ready_ to father any children yet," Touga said, hastily climbing to his feet and standing a bit of a distance away.

Pouting with almost shameful despair-Shippou applauded her acting ability, or her craziness, whatever it was-the Ice Sorceress (he still didn't know her **NAME** yet,**_ dammit!_**) clasped her hands together and gave him **_The Puppy Eyes._**

"Oh, you wouldn't need to _Father_ them, I'll do all the raising, Lieutenant. I want _so badly_ to be a mother, and yet I have **_so few_** appealing choices for a good **strong** bloodline! You're powerful, you're handsome, you're brave, and you have enough intelligence to ensure they're not going to be stupid. I have no desire to impose on you to **_care_** for the pups, just elope with me so I may have the joy of mothering them, Touga," she said as she walked closer and began to lay her arm across him, draping herself slowly onto his body...

Well, he was a young man, she a young woman...Touga relaxed and began to kiss her, began to undress her...

...'.'.'.'.'...

"OOoookkkaayyy, Moumou, I don't need to see the rest of That, I mean...now I know how Sesshoumaru was conceived."

_Oh, gods._ **_Now I know how Sesshoumaru was conceived!_**

_Well, it was no wonder Sesshoumaru acted so much more like his mother than his father. He grew up mostly with her._

_Wait, she'd said 'pups' in the plural. Did that mean Sesshoumaru had Other Siblings, besides Inuyasha?!_

Moumou had paused after the fox spoke, but not for long. This time she was focusing on Touga's return to Toutousai yet again, and the first look at Tenseiga.

...'.'.'.'.'...

"Here you go, The Coffin Cheater is ready," Toutousai announced, handing him Tenseiga.

"It's Tenseiga," Touga sniffed, one eyebrow raised in irritation.

"Eh, that's what I meant," Toutousai scratched the back of his head and smiled. "Tenseiga, right. Tenseiga."

"How does it work?"

"Well, the method used to stop a soul from leaving the mortal plane is simple. You focus on the sword, and the veil between this world and the Netherworld will become unmasked so that you can see the pall-bearer imps from the other side. If you slay them, you'll prevent them from guiding the soul away from the body, and it will return within but a few moments. However, for a soul that's already departed, you'll need to get into the Netherworld. Here's what I think you should do. Instead of using the Meidou Zangetsuha yourself, since you're not sure how it works, go take what's left of the Crystal of Souls with you to the Ice Sorceress, and see if she can open a portal for you to cross over. The Crystal should be able to help you locate the person you're seeking, and I think Tenseiga or the Crystal will tell you from there. They're made of living souls, you know, so they have some of a mind of their own."

"If you say so," Touga huffed.

The picture became fuzzy and blurry and the colors bled into a grayish muck again, but the images were still clear and the voices distinct enough that Shippou barely took notice, enraptured by the story itself.

Touga stood near the Ice Sorceress, Crystal of Souls in one hand, Tenseiga in the other, as she summoned a great and powerful Meidou Hound.

Touga sliced through it with ease using the Tenseiga, then leaped into the Meidou portal it had opened in trying to flee from him.

"Touga, what if you can't escape?!" she called, her first sign of actual worry.

Touga paused, glancing down at her.

"Don't tell me you're _actually **worried**_ about me! You're already pregnant, no need to concern yourself with my safety any longer, Ice Sorceress. Thank you for your help, but I'll take my chances from here."

As the portal closed behind him, she sank to her seat with a heavy sigh.

"That **damn** **_fool_**...he weilds a sword made to resonate with his heart, but he only cares for those weak humans. And I am to sit here and watch him do it...love, you **_cruel mistress! __Why_ **would you bring me the **_perfect_ **man, only for him to have no thought to my eyes upon his noble figure? If only I..."

And she wept.

**_Wept!_ **Shippou couldn't believe it. _Sesshoumaru's mother had been **In Love** with Touga?!_

Well, now that he thought about it, he honestly hadn't known what to think about it, and it shouldn't have seemed so very odd to think that Sesshoumaru's parents had once been...

Wait, that was the weird part._** THEY,** Both of them, **hadn't** been in love With Each Other. Just Sesshoumaru's mother had been in love with his father. _Touga apparently lacked interest, at the very least emotionally, and physically his desire seemed minimal as well. His eyes didn't rove across her perfect body to undress her in his mind, nor did his hands reach to touch her wantingly...

Shippou realized that probably had a _LOT_ to do with the way Sesshoumaru had been raised, how he felt about love...

_Oh, wow._

Meanwhile, Shippou was also watching Touga traverse the Netherworld in splotchy segments. It was likely Moumou's way of getting to the point, skipping most of the unimportant things, blinking through visions to find the right one.

Now it settled onto the moment Touga had found the person he sought.

"Arakumi, I'm here to save you," he whispered, reaching out to touch the spirit.

And his hand went through her. For a moment he looked shocked, then he just smiled.

"It's okay, Arakumi. I'll return you to your..." Touga stopped as a thought occurred to him.

Shippou realized what that thought was as he spoke the sad realization out loud softly.

"It took him a **long** time to get Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga finished. Months. A year maybe. Her body would be decayed so much by the time all those months had passed, she'd hardly be able to live anyways."

"Oh, Touga," Arakumi's spirit looked as if she would cry, and Shippou almost couldn't bear it. The girl was near the age of perhaps seven or eight, a little bigger than the first time Shippou had seen Rin, and yet she spoke with the kind of wisdom that far surpassed her years...much as Rin often did.

"Arakumi..."

"Touga, you gave me the best two years of my life, and that's enough for me," she said with a big sad smile.

"But I...all of this, I was doing it because-"

"Touga, Papa...I'm not meant to come back. I went in peace," she said gently, "and the Tattarimokke played with me and soothed me with it's songs until I could bear to let myself move on. Papa, don't worry. There are many others to save with your beautiful new sword. It's the best katana I've ever seen, and I hope you use it often. But I did all I ever wanted to do, Touga. I was happy. I had nothing left to finish."

"Arakumi, you were only eight years old, how could you have done everything you wanted to do?" he cried miserably.

"I wanted to escape the bad men, I wanted to have a family again, I wanted to love, and I wanted to be loved. You've done all those things for me. I didn't want anything else, Papa."

Touga broke down into sobs and fell to his knees, bawling his eyes out. Arakumi's spirit soothed him for hours until he was ready to let go of her, and when he finally did, the Tenseiga glowed a brilliant blue and enveloped all the area in light, whereupon Touga reappeared just about where he'd leapt into the Meidou Hound's portal, alone, bleary, and yet a little relieved after all this.

"You didn't bring her back?" the Ice Sorceress asked quietly, her own voice sounding sad.

"Arakumi is at peace. She cannot return to a body half-rotted, nor would she come back even if I had a proper body to offer for her soul. She said that she'd done everything she wanted to do. Seven years old, and all she wanted was a family to love her, an escape from the evils of her young life."

"Yet you still suffer much grief, though she is at peace."

"I will always suffer the grief of loss," Touga sighed, "but I cannot throw my life away for it. There are many who must to be saved, others who need me. Arakumi has done more than she will ever know. Tenseiga will save many lives, all because of one human girl. Tetsusaiga will defeat many evils that threaten the weak, because of one human girl."

Touga didn't notice the way the Ice Sorceress hung her head slightly and sighed at his back.

"I wish you much luck in that, Lieutenant Touga. At least your sword does as you intended it to."

"Yes, indeed. Thank you, Sorceress," he nodded almost absently.

"Touga..." she began in a softer tone, making him pause, though he didn't turn his head.

She stopped, closed her mouth, pursed her lips, then spoke something that wasn't at all what she Wanted to say.

"I hope you forgive yourself for having lost her. Sometimes, even the strongest of us are not able to save everyone we care about. I must also warn you to be careful, should you ever try to use the Crystal of Souls within the bounds of the Netherworld again. I presume when you finished off Shishinki, you used the Meidou Zangetsuha against him, did you not? Being a youkai of death, his soul might be trapped inside, but it could never be consumed as others would. The more often you bring the Crystal into the Netherworld, the more likely he will find it and be able to get out."

...'.'.'.'.'...

"So that's why Shishinki couldn't just drag himself out after Sesshoumaru banished him, even with a complete Meidou technique. I always thought it was because his Meidou was just too small," Shippou murmured out loud.

"No, it's because he would need the power of the Crystal of Souls," Toutousai piped up, having finally returned.

Moumou stopped her vision projections and mooed reprovingly at him, which was in itself a strange thing, because as far as Shippou was concerned, he'd never thought he'd hear a cow moo and know it was a reproving noise. But there it was, Moumou went and did it.

"Moumou, you can't keep chewing the cud of the past, you old cow," Toutousai sighed and rubbed her head. "Besides, I dare say there's not a good reason for him to even try to use it right now anyways. Who would he even look for? I'd wager he knows better than to try and fetch out his Father, that much is certain!"

"Besides, the danger of allowing the Crystal of Souls into the Netherworld is far too great. Shishinki is a great foe, but more importantly, he's not the only one. There are _hundreds,_** thousands** of Netherworld youkai who would hunt down anyone with the Crystal for a chance to escape and prowl among the living. Most of them are nearly **_invincible_** in this realm, and they would surely destroy everything in their path. _It **can't** be allowed!_" Myouga agreed firmly.

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

Yes, yes, I know. Why bring Sesshoumaru's parents into this mess? Well, you'll see, you'll see. All in due time :)


	3. You Called Her A Liar

**A/N:** I had some mild reservations as to the extent of character development I presumed had been projected for Sesshoumaru, considering what was observed throughout the series versus how the Feudal Fairy Tale ended. So I felt the need to elaborate before you get reacquainted. **[**_After all, it's been about ten years since you heard him say more than five words in passing._**]** **;D**

Though much of his behavior in this story will likely be seen as "out of character" for the usually stoic and distant taiyoukai we all grew accustomed to, I believe that with the close of the Final Act, there were strong overtures of Sesshoumaru developing a deep friendship with Inuyasha and to some extent the rest of the old gang. I deduced this after taking into account his vast growth during the entire tale, and the way it concluded after his turbulent battle with his own heart, the way Tenseiga reacted and guided him during the last leg of their frenzied struggle to defeat Naraku.

**I didn't suppose** the ending was giving the impression of **"**after **_all this change of heart_**, Sesshoumaru decided he'd become _"__nice enough"_ and so did Tenseiga, so he just went and killed all his enemies and never saved anyone or cared about humans who weren't his friends ever again. **OH _and also_** he stayed aloof and snobbish and never completely got along with Inuyasha or anyone else because...well because **that's _all _we_ ever saw_."**

Unfortunately, the vast preponderance of fanfictions seem to give that feel, and I didn't like it. So flame away if you don't like the fact that Sesshoumaru grew up and got a little more emotionally normal and acts a lot less like a juvenile delinquint asshole while he's starring in these post-canon postulations. It won't bother me a bit :D

.

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

Sesshoumaru paused as he landed near the entrance of the cave. There were an awful lot of familiar and suspicious scents nearby. _How could **They** know about something that had to do with..._

_**Tenseiga.** Huh. Toutousai must have figured it out while Shippou was visiting him and dragged the kitsune along. So clearly, this couldn't be too dangerous, or else the smith would've run away._

Well, that was the most logical deduction Sesshoumaru could come up with, since he didn't know the facts yet.

Walking into the cave, he paused only briefly at the start of the maze before following the scent of the cow, sure that the distracting dozens of fox prints were from the kitsune's multiply trick being used to navigate the correct path. Idly, in the back of his mind, Sesshoumaru highly approved of Shippou's cleverness and forethought.

"...danger of allowing the Crystal of Souls into the Netherworld is far too great. Shishinki is a great foe, but more importantly, he's not the only one. There are _hundreds,_ **thousands** of Netherworld youkai who would hunt down anyone with the Crystal for a chance to escape and prowl among the living. Most of them are nearly **_invincible_** in this realm, and they would surely destroy everything in their path. _It **can't** be allowed!_"

Sesshoumaru decided to move, still half-hidden by the shadow of the exit of the maze just then, and Shippou leaped into the air as he heard the soft crunch of the boot on the shifting dirt.

Sesshoumaru was the _only one_ who noticed the slightest little thing that happened next, and he nearly smiled as he felt it. Much of how Sesshoumaru learned to be so sneaky was in the way he shifted his own jyaki to push his scent directly away from whomever he was sneaking up on, with the slightest of breezes so as not to ruffle his clothes and make noise, just enough to keep a whiff of him out of their noses.

Now, Shippou had reached out with his own jyaki and tried to pull the scent towards him, reflexively, before he even realized he was doing it. This was a rather remarkably refined talent for such a young youkai to have mastered with literally no thought involved. He was a little impressed.

"Sesshoumaru!" Shippou yipped, scrambling into a stiff posture and scratching his head nervously as Toutousai hid behind Moumou and Myouga suddenly vanished.

"Shishinki has been banished to the Netherworld, and I doubt Inuyasha has any intention of fishing the land of death for new enemies to alleviate his boredom. And what is this Crystal of Souls you mention?" he glanced to the side at the barrier around the pedestal with the sealed box, "I see, that must be it. Well it seems safe enough. You're all _awful worried_ about nothing, aren't you?" he teased lightly.

Over time he'd grown less stoic and callous, especially among his friends, but right now there was still an edge of something around him that made the rest of them just slightly uneasy.

"You must be one to talk, Sesshoumaru," Shippou finally huffed and crossed his arms, "showing up here yourself, and telling all of **_us_** that **_we're_** worried for nothing. It was Tenseiga, wasn't it? _Tenseiga_ told you to come here."

_Huh, so the fox is just as sharp as ever._

"Well, there's no hiding anything from you, is there?" Sesshoumaru nodded in graceful admittance, "Yes, Tenseiga guided me here, and I suppose it called to Toutousai too, am I right?"

"Nope, Shippou's idea, not mine at all," Toutousai muttered. "I wanted to stay far away from here..."

Sesshoumaru raised both eyebrows.

"I heard about the Crystal of Souls at the Maboroshi-the Fox Inn we use for exams-and I went to Toutousai to ask him about it, and we decided to make sure the humans didn't get to it, so we had to come here and disguise it-"

"Sensei Shippou! We've caught the scent of a dog youkai-"

"You're _awful **late** for **that**_**,** Maku, Saitou," Shippou growled out in annoyance as they skidded to a halt and stared up in horror at the powerful taiyoukai they'd detected.

Sesshoumaru let slip one gleaming fang and barked, just once, very loudly. They shrieked and scrambled in a panic, tumbling over each other and bolting towards the corner blindly, poofing into two puffs of smoke after bouncing off the walls and running out of the maze seconds later, screaming in terror.

Sesshoumaru actually laughed at them a little bit, while Shippou sighed heavily.

"They're still little, Sesshoumaru. Take it easy on those two, would you? I still need them to keep the illusions going that we're using to fool the humans."

"Tell me, how did this Crystal of Souls call to Tenseiga?"

"Eh, well, I'm not sure," Toutousai nervously scratched his head and sweatdropped.

"Toutousai used it to make Tenseiga. And _**B**_**_y The Way,_**" Shippou added with an air of absolute triumph, "your Father didn't split the swords into two _just on the spur of the moment._ That was the plan _all along_**.** Tetsusaiga was made **just** to defeat Shishinki, to **absorb** the Meidou Zangetsuha so it could be reforged into a sword with a connection with the Netherworld. But not for the Meidou itself. **_For the power to bring someone back to life._** And the Crystal together with the essence of the Meidou is what made that possible. But Tetsusaiga's _whole **Purpose**_ was to have the ability to harness and absorb the power necessary _**to create Tenseiga.**_ In fact, you could even say Tenseiga was the **_ultimate goal_** of making Tetsusaiga."

Sesshoumaru raised both eyebrows, about to ask Toutousai, but then he saw the smith also looked surprised.

"Shippou, what would _you know_ of any of these things?" Toutousai huffed.

Moumou mooed and blinked at him, and the smith's jaw dropped as he realized what she'd done.

"Oh, Moumou, _no no no,_ you **Showed** him, **_didn't you?!_**"

_Well, **that** answered the question of whether it was true or not._

Sesshoumaru felt about three inches taller now, and his slight smile showed it.

"Really? That's interesting," he tried very, very hard to be modest.

"And after _all that time_ you spent insulting it's **worthless power** because it **_couldn't kill,_**" the fox added coolly.

_Ouch._ Sesshoumaru felt the sting of that quick slap. _The fox is indeed the master of the backhanded compliment._

"Alright, I deserved that," Sesshoumaru conceded, "but then why plan to absorb the Meidou back into Tetsusaiga?"

"Because your _Father_ couldn't see how to really **use** the Meidou with Tenseiga. He had to train it, because all he wanted was the essence of it to bridge the connection to the Netherworld. Shishinki was the son of a Netherworld youkai and a dark sorceress, so he could handle the energy easily, his jyaki was attuned to it. But your Father would have had a lot of difficulty **_not_** getting sucked into it when he tried to use it, at least that was his _theory_. And to bring somebody back, the Crystal had to be used to forge it too, and they also thought he'd need it with him to bring back somebody long-dead. Her name was Arakumi. She was a human that Shishinki killed, so it was personal too. Just think of that, Sesshoumaru. You and Inuyasha avenged your Father's most hated foe, the one and only youkai who was **_both the cause and the solution_** to the creation of your Father's two legendary swords, and you killed him _With those same two legendary swords_. Isn't that some kind of twist of irony?"

Sesshoumaru felt yet another inch taller. _Shippou is really putting it on **thick.**_ He felt like he'd be ready to buy just about any crazy plan the kitsune had, after all the butter he'd been covered in. He knew the flattery was being applied with trickster expertise, but honestly, he didn't care that it was working, he would allow it to inflate his already monstrous ego anyways.

"Hmm, _indeed_."

"So, well anyhow," Shippou continued, and by now Toutousai and Myouga were laying on the floor in shock as to the secrets that were being revealed, helpless to stop it now, terrified of what might be said, "he took Tetsusaiga and absorbed the Meidou, found the Crystal of Souls, then Toutousai told him he'd need the help of the Ice Sorceress, your mother, because she had the Meidou-seiki and-"

"Wait," Sesshoumaru halted him, "say that again."

"She had the Meidou-seiki?" Shippou had expected him to catch that one too.

"No, before that."

"...he took Tetsusaiga and absorbed the Meidou and found the Crystal?"

"After that."

"Toutousai told him he'd need the help of the Ice Sorceress?"

"_She_ told me they met at a _diplomatic **Conference**_!" Sesshoumaru scowled, annoyed.

Shippou dared not laugh like he wanted to, but a snuckle slipped out and he covered his face nervously, wide-eyed.

And secretly, he was surprised that Sesshoumaru hadn't caught the inconsistency that he himself had thought of.

Sesshoumaru sighed.

"Alright, continue."

"So he got her to help him-"

"Must've cost him a fortune," Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes, still being a typical insulting son sometimes.

Not thinking, Shippou blurted out the first response that came to mind.

"Eh, not really, he just had to sleep with her."

No sooner had he spoken, he heard himself speak, shut up, and acquired a look of terror on his face.

Sesshoumaru's eyebrow twitched.

"_**What?**_"

"I uh, I mean to say, that is uh...I could've been mistaken, it was vague and-"

Moumou mooed loudly and blinked, and replaying just the most relevant portion...

...'.'.'.'.'...

"Very well, but I require payment."

"I expected you would..." Touga eyed her warily, "what is your price?"

She smiled.

"I've been wanting to find a worthy mate to give me a litter of pups. You strike my fancy, and you're not married. Elope with me until I am sure to bear children, and I shall do this deed for you."

"_**Children?!**_" he yelped and leaped out of his chair, flipping the table to the side and spilling everything in the process.

"Yes, children. Oh, don't worry, you'll have your firstborn son as your own heir. I claim the firstborn daughter as my heiress, of course. I suppose you have every right to want the second son too, just in case the first dies and cannot continue your legcay-"

"I mean no disrespect when I say this, but I'm not sure I'm _ready_ to father any children yet," Touga said, hastily climbing to his feet and standing a bit of a distance away.

Pouting with almost shameful despair, the Ice Sorceress clasped her hands together and gave him **_The Puppy Eyes_**.

"Oh, you wouldn't need to Father them, I'll do all the raising, Lieutenant. I want so badly to be a mother, and yet I have **_so few_** appealing choices for a good **strong** bloodline! You're powerful, you're handsome, you're brave, and you have enough intelligence to ensure they're not going to be stupid. I have no desire to impose on you to **_care_** for the pups, just elope with me so I may have the joy of mothering them, Touga," she said as she walked closer and began to lay her arm across him, draping herself slowly onto his body...

Well, he was a young man, she a young woman...Touga relaxed and began to kiss her, began to undress her...

...'.'.'.'.'...

Sesshoumaru was clenching his fist, his eyes shut, his fangs gritted, his veins popping on his forehead, a low growl rising from his chest as he tried to contain himself.

Shippou tried very hard to edge away, but one tail was caught just as he nearly made his escape, and he was punched in the head five times before he was released.

"_**OOOWWW!**_ Hey, it's not _my_ fault," Shippou whined at the unfair punishment, "I wasn't even alive yet!"

"You called my mother a liar."

"How in the world-"

"She told me that they met at a diplomatic conference and had a torrid courtship, that they danced and laughed in the moonlight, and they fought and split up months later over some political nonsense."

"Well _clearly_ that's not **_exactly_** what happened..."

"See, you did it again, you called her a liar," Sesshoumaru snarled, punching the fox again.

"I see what you did there," Shippou said woozily, "that one **Hurt,** Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru sighed again.

"Dammit, Mother, I'm going to have that talk with you _one of these days_," he grumbled.

Moumou mooed in amusement. Shippou wondered how it was so easy to tell sometimes, but the old girl had a sense of humor, that much was for certain.

"Neverminding _That,_" Sesshoumaru scowled, shaking his head, "what else happened? With this Crystal and Tenseiga?"

"Oh. Well, your mother helped him get to the Netherworld by summoning a Meidou Hound, and he slew it and went into the Netherworld through it's escape portal. But when he found the human, he realized it had been too long and he didn't have a proper body for her soul to live in, and she also told him that she had nothing left to finish and so she wouldn't have chosen to go back among the living anyways. So after a, a farewell parting you could call it, the Tenseiga glowed bright blue and your Father was sent back out of the Netherworld through a portal. Never saw if the Crystal of Souls actually would have done what it was supposed to, but after hearing about what you and Inuyasha went through inside the Meidou Zangetsuha, well I wouldn't doubt it's possible, and even highly likely."

"So he...he didn't succeed?"

"Well, I think that's the opposite way of how he thought of it," Shippou said gently, sensing the deep thought that rolled around in the dog taiyoukai's mind. "I think he felt like he succeeding in making sure she was at peace, and he went on to use the gift she'd given him to save other people. She gave him a reason to keep love in his heart, a reason to create two powerful swords, one to defend and one to save, both made for the protection of the weak. Your Father wasn't stupid, and I think he knew there was hardly any chance he could save her anyways. But he got to make peace with her death. It probably needed to happen. He thought she had a whole life she wanted to live, and when she let him know that she was happy with the time she had being like a daughter to him-"

"A _daughter_? You mean, she wasn't a...a mate?"

Shippou smirked, showing one long fang mischievously.

"Oh, _surprised_ that you take after your Father so much? _Shocked_ that the human he wanted to save the most was some little girl that he thought of as a daughter, that she thought of him as a _**Father**_ to her?" the fox teased.

Sesshoumaru blushed slightly, though he wasn't sure why that embarrassed him as much as it did.

"Anyways, Moumou here seems to think the Crystal should be released from it's seals. I don't know why," Shippou said with a shrug as he looked at said cow, "but the more I ask her, the more she's shown me about your Father. Things I think even old Toutousai forgot about. Like how the way his fang being broken was an accident."

"Father always used to say that was a sign of his great powers of evasion," Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes, "that if it stayed broken his whole life, it proved that nobody could knock it out of his mouth. Such a stupid reason to walk around with half a fang, especially one of the prominent ones."

Shippou laughed.

"That's what Toutousai told him when he broke it! Your Father asked if that was how it was supposed to happen, and so Toutousai said that was exactly what he needed for a sword. But when your Father confronted him about it not growing back later on, that's when he went further and said all those things you just told me your Father said about it! _**Holy shit, he Bought It!"**_

And Shippou fell into a fit of giggles, while Sesshoumaru's blush deepened.

"Father wasn't the _smartest_ when it came to...well, he wasn't the smartest. Of course he wasn't the _dumbest_ either, but you'd never know it until his prowess was tested. Inuyasha gets that from him...I take after my Mother more in that regard, I suppose. Though I won't say I regret that part in the slightest. Now tell me, Shippou," here he most abruptly changed the subject, "why are there humans after this Crystal, and why are they of any concern? The maze and the barrier and the seals should all prove sufficient to keep them from obtaining it."

"The one guy lost his wife and wants to bring her back. Knows about your sword too, a little bit anyways."

"_Oh?_"

"He said he heard talk that the Blade of Heaven with the Crystal of Souls had to be used together to bring a long-dead soul back to life, intact. And that it could either be a false body, or a freshly dead body. They were too squeamish to kill for a body for his wife, which is a good thing, but their plan seemed to be something close to how Urasue went about it. Yet oddly enough, come to think of it, I didn't hear _any_ mention of Urasue, and I'd have thought that _her_ magics and plunderings would be a lot more famous than some old forgotten crystal by now."

"Well, Urasue is dead, and she wasn't known for keeping notes, or apprentices," Sesshoumaru frowned, "and besides all of that, she tried not to reveal too much information, strategic as she was. Most of her creations were merely mindless clay warriors anyways, and those who weren't simply appeared to be still alive, so I doubt anyone without more personal knowledge or run-ins would have known better. Also, even if someone else knew how to do those things that Urasue did to bring someone back to life in an animated clay body, how many of them would _also_ know how to be sure to summon and control the shinidamachu, the soul-collectors required to empower that clay body?"

As he'd been speaking, though, Sesshoumaru had absently placed his left hand on Tenseiga and seemed to be focusing intently on it for the duration of his reply. As he stopped, a frown crossed his face, and a small sigh escaped him.

"What's the matter?" Shippou asked, seeing that odd reaction.

"Shippou, there is no harm in allowing the humans to see this," Sesshoumaru said, shocking all of them, except for Moumou it seemed.

"Eh-_whaa_?" Toutousai noised, and he and Myouga looked at each other and blinked before looking back at the dog.

"Just what do you mean by that?" Shippou furrowed his brow, "did Tenseiga tell you to let them see?"

"No, Tenseiga told me that she has already passed the veil, peacefully I might add. I'm going to end their futile journey so that they can go home and live their lives."

"Oh," Shippou blinked. Though Sesshoumaru had really changed so much over the years, hearing him actually say those kinds of things was still something of a surprise. The vivid impressions of his haughty battle-hungry younger self had never quite gone away..._then again, the attitude that went with it never quite went away either, just now it's under the control of a much more level-headed and understanding mindset._

"And besides, I wonder how they found out about this Crystal anyways, when even I didn't know of it, and it's the very same relic from which Tenseiga was made. Although I wager that _some certain sources_ were **deliberately** making sure that those legends faded away with time," he shot a **_slightly_** annoyed glare at Toutousai and Myouga. "Perhaps they don't know anything useful, but since I can settle two things at once, I may as well do so."

"They seem to think that all youkai are evil, like most humans," Shippou warned as he recalled the men's assumptions about the origins of the sword.

"Surely, but you yourself have persuaded many a human to think otherwise."

"Yeah, back when I was cute and tiny, but now that I'm the size of a teenager and not a cat, you wouldn't believe how much things have changed. Anyone who sees my tails and my fox legs these days _loses _**their _mind_** if they're not already acquainted with a friendly youkai."

"Do you seek it out and return it to them?" Sesshoumaru asked blandly.

"Huh?"

"When they lose their mind, it's only the proper thing to do to go and find it for them and bring it back, at least when it's _your_ fault that they lost it. Didn't anyone ever teach you _manners_?" Sesshoumaru smirked coyly.

Shippou chuckled at the dog's dry humor. Well, maybe that wouldn't be worth a lot of points at his trickster exams, but in knowing the dog, he realized just how funny that was. Sesshoumaru was in an awful playful mood suddenly.

_Oh._ Something clicked in Shippou's head as he came to that conclusion. _Sesshoumaru wasn't just in a playful mood for no reason at all._ It was a distraction from his anxiety, a stress relief technique he'd begun to develop. He was in this seemingly jovial mood mostly due to the fact that he still didn't know what was really going on, and he didn't want to give away just how much, or what, he was thinking about everything.

"Manners? You think a trickster _doesn't know manners?_ Why I know about twenty-six different ways to make a tea party look like an insult without anyone realizing I was sitting _right in the room with them_! Keh!"

Sesshoumaru sniffed and raised his head, and Shippou paused as Maku and Saitou came creeping back in, embarrassed by their terrified flight.

"Sensei Shippou, we-"

"Aw, shuddup, you're kids and he's scary. Sometimes he even looks that way on purpose."

"Seems like his look is _always_ on purpose, if you pay attention to all that hair," Saitou whispered to Maku.

"Yeah, not a single strand out of place. How does he _do it?_" Maku whispered back in wonderment.

Sesshoumaru smirked and ran his fingers of his left hand through a thick lock of hair, flicking it out to the side as he pivoted, letting it wave almost magnificently as he turned his entire self dramatically to face the pedestal.

Shippou rolled his eyes and sighed. _What a pretty-pretty princess. Some things Never change after all._

Moumou mooed **_very loudly_** as she saw Sesshoumaru looking at the Crystal, and as she **stomped** her front hoof **_mightily_**, the Crystal and the Tenseiga both pulsed.

Not quite startled, but definitely **_not_ **expecting that, and intrigued by this reaction, Sesshoumaru raised both of his eyebrows and looked briefly back and forth between the cow and the Crystal, then down at his Tenseiga.

"Hm," he hummed in thought as he drew the sword, observing it's pale blue glow. "How interesting."

"Oh no, _it's happening!_" Toutousai and Myouga cringed in the corner, huddling together in fear.

"I don't have a psychic connection to your sword or anything, but it seems to me it wants to free the Crystal."

"Yes, Shippou, that would appear to be the case. How astute your powers of observation truly are."

"Gee, thanks for the compliment."

"You are most welcome."

"Are you gonna do it?"

"If I thought Tenseiga could break this barrier, I would. Right now it seems restrained. As if it's waiting for yet one more piece of the puzzle to reveal itself, one more thing to happen...sensing it's intention isn't quite an exact process. It's eager, but it's waiting. It cannot destroy the barrier by itself, nor can Bakusaiga."

Shippou didn't feel the need to point out that they both should know what that meant.

"You know what _that_ means," Myouga sighed, clearly feeling that He needed to state the obvious.

"Tenseiga is calling to _Tetsusaiga!_" Toutousai announced.

"Yeah, we pretty much figured that out because of the _need to break a barrier,_" Shippou rolled his eyes.

"This is all so weird," Maku mumbled, elbowing Saitou.

"Yeah, swords and stones with minds of their own? I don't even know half of what they're talking about..."

Shippou, finally having the attention to give to his apprentices, turned his head sharply and glared at them.

"Alright, you two, your break is over. New plan. We're not leading the humans away, we're leading them here safe and getting them through the maze. Let them talk to Sesshoumaru and hear what they need to hear in order to move on in peace and all that. That said, there's still a lot to do. Make camp, get some food hunted down for all of us, and start a rotating triangular patrol this time. Toutousai will eat a whole boar himself, and so will Sesshoumaru if he's hungry enough to eat at all, so don't act like you're feeding kids here. Move it, **move it**!"

Maku and Saitou snapped to a salute and scrambled off to do as he said.

Sesshoumaru was growing more and more impressed by the fox every time he saw something else happen. Shippou would indeed grow into a powerful taiyoukai in his own right, Sesshoumaru was sure of it.

"So Inuyasha will probably be here soon enough, I'm guessing about two or three days depending on whether or not he has Ah-Un or Kirara nearby to make it faster," Shippou turned his attention generally back towards his friends, "so that means he's gonna show up sometime right around when those humans get here. Which should all be very interesting to watch...wonder how any single one of us demons can convince them, without any of our human friends around, that we're all actually **_not_** just plain evil bloodthirsty monsters."

"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Sesshoumaru said coolly, pausing as he looked at Tenseiga, then at the sheath, and then he shrugged and leaned the bare sword against the wall near the pedestal.

Shippou raised an eyebrow.

"It doesn't want to be sheathed, but it needn't be held the entire three days either. I suppose it's doing something like catching up with an old friend," he said, a hint of a smile trying to rise to his features as he glanced at the sword and the protected crystal near it.

_Wow. Sesshoumaru was happy that his sword was chatting with it's old friend_...Shippou gained a much deeper and more meaningful glimpse and understanding of just how connected the dogs were to their swords. _It's as if they're a piece of their own souls, a link to their life essence. They **Understand** each other, wielder and weapon as one._

"So, you're just gonna wait here until Inuyasha shows up?"

"Well, no," Sesshoumaru shook his head, "that would be a waste of my time."

"Oh? So you're leaving Tenseiga here and going off for a day or two until Inuyasha's nearby?"

"I never said that," Sesshoumaru huffed almost indignantly, "what makes you think I'd leave Tenseiga here alone?"

"But you just said..."

"That I'm _not just going to wait here._ That doesn't mean I'm _leaving_. It means I'm doing something _other than_ _just waiting._ Like, for instance," he smiled, pulling out a small but familiar pouch of smooth stones, "playing Shougi."

Shippou smiled, and he pulled out a leaf to create a board illusion, rather than drawing the lines out on the floor, and they sat and set up the game. For the sake of sitting comfortably, Sesshoumaru also took Bakusaiga out of his sash and laid it nearby, for it would shift awkwardly when the butt of the scabbard bumped the ground.

Sesshoumaru didn't often play Shougi, even when he had the time, _mostly_ because he hadn't found many people in the past who were actually good enough at it to challenge him. But after having relented in his persistent bullying of his little brother and adopting the clan of friends (_"begrudgingly,"_ he would sometimes say) as his own extended tribe, he'd found not just one, or two, or three, but **_seven_** worthy opponents. Not to say they often beat him, but they gave him quite a good mental exercise, and he had to earn his victories fairly cleverly.

Yet out of those seven, only_ three_ had ever beaten him even once.

And of those three, only _**Shippou** _had beaten him more than once.

So it wasn't much of a surprise when the dog wanted a re-match of their last game, where he'd lost actually quite miserably, having spent nine entire nights while the humans were asleep locked in mental combat with the kitsune. The nights had progressively worsened, as the dog kept wagering higher and higher odds. The first night he lost the first game, and with a smile, challenged the fox to the best two out of three. That soon became the best three out of five. Then the best five out of eight. Then...well, to make the obvious pattern shorter, it ended with the best twenty-one out of forty.

And of course, he still lost, twenty-one to twelve. And then he swatted the board, sent the pieces flying, punched Shippou in the head, and leapt off about a hundred yards away to sulk in a quiet dark treetop for the rest of the night. Of course they'd been playing outside, so he hadn't been afraid of anyone else seeing his tantrum, and the fox wasn't _stupid_ enough to** dare** breathe a word of mockery about it, lest he die for such blasphemy.

But the fact was that the dog wanted revenge. Unlike Inuyasha though, a pummelling wouldn't quench his desire to win. He had to defeat the kitsune in the way he'd been defeated-_mentally, **strategically.**_

And now, without the village around them, without the humans to visit, they didn't have to stick to playing just at night. They could spend the whole time while they waited just playing Shougi, seeing who would win...

Sesshoumaru smirked at the fox and pulled out an astragal, a marked sheep-bone rolled for chance.

"Odds or evens?"

"Odds," Shippou chose with a light shrug.

Sesshoumaru rolled it, and it landed on a three-slash mark. Odds it was.

"You can go first," Shippou smiled, letting the taiyoukai make the initial move.

Sesshoumaru frowned. He knew the fox well after so many Shougi games. He preferred when the fox moved first.

The game was on...

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

For your own future reference, I don't know much about Shougi except that it's an old game. I believe it was derived from the Chinese Go, and I'm told it's basically a complicated Asian version of chess. I'm also told it's not as simple as chess where you just move one piece and the other person moves one piece, but since I don't know much else, I'm just going to be vague about the details of their games. I suppose I could look it up if I felt that was the important part, but I don't.

Please review if you haven't already, I would love to hear your feedback :)


	4. THE FK IS THAT!

**A/N:** I have nothing to say to you. For you have nothing to say to me. Let's face it, you're only here for the story. XD

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

The start of the second day found them locked in a long, excruciatingly close game, their sixteenth game, one that could either bring them to a tie or tip the scales in Shippou's favor. So far, they'd nearly alternated every other game, keeping the tie very close and neither of them quite succeeding in getting far ahead of the other, unlike the last time.

This was, however, much more typical than the last time, and Sesshoumaru was more comfortable at this pace. He was sure their previous matches that week had been a total fluke.

Shippou was relieved after a little while as well. Apparently the dog wasn't catching on to the fact that Shippou was deliberately letting a few little mishaps and openings slip by him here and there. He didn't want it to be _too_ obvious, because he knew Sesshoumaru would never tolerate being _Given_ the victory...but he didn't like the way it seemed to actually hurt the dog's pride when he lost so badly. Shippou had been the only one to see it, but it was almost intolerable to him. He wasn't sure why, but it was strange. Normally he'd just be afraid of getting punched real hard a few dozen times by a sore loser like Inuyasha, but this was different somehow. _Maybe it wasn't really,_ Shippou reflected idly, _but it sure felt like it._ The fox just couldn't quite fathom _Why._

Sesshoumaru studied the kitsune's last move very carefully, looking over the entire board, then glancing at the fox with a cautious look.

"You have a plan for that, don't you? You left that one exposed on purpose. You were just looking at it, and you moved the other one instead. I won't fall for those tricks, Shippou," he muttered, moving a different piece with rather decisive defensiveness, then paused to study the board again, gesturing for the fox to take his turn.

_Uh-oh._ Shippou had to cover up the accidentally-on-purpose opening with some other strategy that made it look like he wasn't trying to throw the game and let the dog win.

_Well shit, if that's what I have to do, then if I moved this piece there..._

After another few moves by each of them, Shippou started to tone down his clever maneuvering again, now making sure that he made two moves that left him open on two sides before doing his next set of moves, in such a way that he'd only be able to defend one flank at a time.

But Sesshoumaru had been seeing this all night, and he started to realize that the fox was rigging the game.

"You've been _cheating,_" Sesshoumaru growled after a few more moves left him with three viable options of attack.

"I don't cheat!" Shippou protested, then added quietly, "not in games with my **_friends_**, anyhow. Exams don't count."

"You're _letting_ me win," Sesshoumaru huffed and stood, his fist clenched, "and you've been doing it this whole time, _haven't you?_ What's the matter, Shippou? Are you..." here he paused, his face suddenly shifting into an expression of shock more than the heightened aggravation he'd just felt as a new thought occurred to him, "are you.**_..Afraid?_** Do you think that I'd _actually_ cause you any serious harm, Shippou?" he asked, now looking almost **_Hurt._**

"No, it's not that, _honest!_" Shippou said hastily, and in fact he was being honest about that one. "I trust you not to do any_ real_ damage to me, Sesshoumaru, I just...something about the way you look when you lose a game real bad, it wasn't...I didn't want to see you look that way again," he said vaguely, mindful of the now-intrigued audience.

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, then crossed his arms and huffed, closing his eyes and turning his head a bit.

"Your _Pity_ is no excuse to throw a game, and you can call it whatever you like, it's all the same. _That,_ Shippou, is going to make me feel _worse_ than losing fair and square. Now finish this game **_the right way_**," he muttered, insisting as he sat down across the board again, a grim resolute look on his face as he gazed upon certain doom.

Shippou sighed heavily and continued the game. And stomped all over Sesshoumaru's field like a kid stomping on a big sandcastle, destroying it beyond recognition.

Sesshoumaru set up another game. And another. And another. In fact he lost the next twelve games in a row in less than half an hour each. He won the thirteenth game by more luck than skill, taking advantage of a move the fox had _Legitimately_ overlooked, and then lost the next nine games, and won the game after that by exploiting his own weak defense and running a suicide rig, depleting almost every resource he had to get to the main piece and finish it off to win in that way instead of beating the fox's army.

Yet when he tried that again the next game, the fox swiftly adapted and defeated the attempt with ease, and every other thing Sesshoumaru could think of for the next seven games, until he finally quit himself with a heavy sigh, simply standing to walk off into the maze and taking a left turn to who-knew-where.

"Hey, there's...lots of traps in there," Shippou called lamely, cursing himself for not knowing what else to do.

"I'll be fine," Sesshoumaru replied, disappearing into the labyrinth.

"Is he _actually_ so upset about losing_ Shougi?_" Toutousai marvelled.

"It would seem so," Myouga said with a sigh, "though I can't say I'm not surprised, it still makes sense enough for him to feel so strongly about that game."

"Why is that, Myouga?" Shippou asked, turning his attention to the old flea.

"Sesshoumaru learned Shougi from Touga, his Father, and that was one of the few things they bonded over even when many other things changed. They played Shougi from when he was a mere toddler right up until Touga ran off with Izayoi, Inuyasha's mother. Though the two of them didn't always feel the same way or get along exceptionally well, they could _almost always_ settle things over a game of Shougi, when words and fists weren't enough or didn't work. Shougi was _their **special** thing_, and Sesshoumaru has always been proud of his finesse with the game. Being messed with by a youngster like yourself who can beat him so easily...it must make him wonder how often his Father had done the same thing right under his nose without him ever catching on. And I'll tell you, Shippou, Touga would let him win sometimes too..._usually_ as his way of conceding an argument he knew he'd been wrong about to begin with. Yet it was very rare indeed for Sesshoumaru himself to catch on to the fact, I wager," then as an afterthought, "He must've thought Touga was an excellent Shougi strategist...it truth, it was _mostly_ that he knew Sesshoumaru himself so well. Against unfamiliar opponents, Touga _rarely_ had such ease with the game."

"I see," Shippou nodded, now understanding what had gotten the dog so riled up about Shougi. "So...there's really nothing to do about it, is there?"

"Teach him to be better at Shougi," Toutousai snickered, and Shippou scowled.

"Oh, yeah, like being **_that presumptuous_** wouldn't get me killed. **Mmm-hmm.** No thanks, I'm not gonna insult him and get myself _murdered_ for suggesting that I should be teaching him _anything_ about a game he's been playing _longer than I've been alive,_ Toutousai. If beating him at Shougi is bad enough, _that's definitely **Worse!**_"

Sesshoumaru sighed as he stood in the shadow near the end of the maze. In truth, he hadn't wandered off at all, he'd just _pretended_ he was going to and stood behind the wall a couple of feet into the shadows, again using his control of his jyaki to move his scent away so they couldn't smell his nearness.

Myouga had been **mostly **right, although it was the _flea's **assumption**_ that Sesshoumaru didn't catch on as often as he actually did, because he had often known his Father was actually giving up the game when he was giving up the argument. _It was usually a subtle but very distinct difference, right at the time when he was defeated, in whether he was truly surprised, or if he was feigning shock at my strategic brilliance._ Sesshoumaru hadn't let on that he knew in a lot of those instances, because of what it meant when his Father _actually **Let him win**_**.**

However, when _Shippou_ let him win for nothing more or less than the sake of the game itself, that seemed like some kind of _pity_. Sesshoumaru didn't mind losing nearly as much as he minded being the object of such pity. He could be graceful about a loss, even if it was something he was good at. Yet being _handed_ a win was an insult to his pride.

But still, he stayed and listened as they talked about him. He hated to admit it, but this was one of the only ways he could find out what they weren't always brave enough to say to his face. He still somewhat resented that they all remained so afraid of how he would react, but he knew he had to _earn_ that kind of trust over time, at least with the old geezers who only knew him for the asshole he used to be for so long that this was still new to them.

"Touga wasn't always the most adept at strategy on a puzzle board, but he learned the basics because it helped him understand the way he would have to lead his soldiers into battle. That part was always difficult for him, and of course that's where Inuyasha got it, wanting to charge heedlessly into the front of the fight..." Myouga sighed and shook his head, "though unlike Inuyasha, Lord Touga _usually_ had some restraint about him, and technique to go with his brawn. At least _most of the time_, when his head was clear. But if someone got to him, he started swinging with a fury and abandon that was incredible to witness. I always wondered how it worked so often, but then again, it seems to work the same way for Inuyasha."

"**Perhaps** my swordsmithing is just _so incredible_ that _anyone_ who can weild the Great and Powerful Tetsusaiga becomes virtually **invincible,** _even when they use **no forethought whatsoever!**_" Toutousai declared.

A rock flew out of the labyrinth and nailed the smith squarely between the eyes with such force that he was knocked over onto his back and lay there, twitching and wondering what happened as he groaned.

Sesshoumaru stepped out to reveal himself, as if he'd been gone for all but the last part, and he paused to study Shippou for a few moments before walking back and settling himself across the board. The pieces hadn't moved, and the game seemed to be a very clear loss in it's last stages.

Sesshoumaru moved his piece and looked over at the fox expectantly. Shippou raised both eyebrows.

"You're sure you want to keep playing? I mean, we can at least start a fresh game."

"No, I'll continue from here. I made all the moves that led me to this spot, I'll see it through."

Shippou shrugged and made his move.

Sesshoumaru studied the board intently, then moved a piece forward. Shippou took his turn, and they went at it yet again, with another seven turns spelling out the dog's final demise.

What surprised Shippou was that Sesshoumaru set up the board for yet another game.

"You're really determined to keep at it, aren't you?" Shippou remarked quite obviously.

"Not at all," Sesshoumaru replied facetiously, rolling his eyes as he put the last piece in it's starting position.

Shippou picked up the astragal and glanced at the dog.

"Odds or evens?"

Sesshoumaru huffed and reached out his hand.

"I'm rolling it, trickster."

"Fine, you roll it," Shippou shrugged. "I call evens."

Sesshoumaru rolled it. Two slashes. Evens it was.

Shippou sighed. The dog just couldn't catch a break tonight for the life of him.

"I'll go first this time."

Sesshoumaru frowned, but he let that one go.

The game progressed rapidly into Sesshoumaru's defeat yet again, six more losses following that until the next day's lunch was already upon them before they realized how the time had flown. **[**This left them at 35-2, counting from when Sesshoumaru caught on and made Shippou play him fair and square instead of taking it easy on him.**]**

"The humans draw near, and Inuyasha isn't far behind," Maku told them as they brought some food that the two fox apprentices hunted and cooked. "I would say they'll be here within a few hours."

"Nice job with the boars," Shippou complimented sincerely as he nodded at his apprentices, "and great job scouting and bringing the report. Make sure they all get here, but not at the exact same time. Is Inuyasha alone?"

"He's riding a two-headed scaly beast, but there's nobody else on it's back with him," Saitou informed them.

"Ah-Un, good," Shippou nodded, "and by the way, he's a dragon, you know."

"Really? I wasn't sure," Saitou blushed, "I've never seen a dragon _quite like that_ before, to be honest. I thought maybe he was some kind of Chinese lizard or a very odd type of Western horse-creature."

"Well, his rare breed did originate in the continent," Sesshoumaru piped up, "but he himself was born in our lands, near the far Western coast, a very long time ago. Ah-Un is my trusted companion."

"Sensei Shippou, the many allies you have are powerful indeed," Maku declared with admiration.

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow while Shippou sighed. _Yup, they'd totally missed it. But it couldn't be helped._

"Go and make sure they don't cross paths with each other until one or the other is already well inside this chamber. I don't want them fighting outside because we're gonna stop them from fighting in here before they have a reason to insult each other, alright?"

"Hai, Sensei!" the foxlings ran off to do their Sensei's bidding.

"It must be_ so hard_ for you," Sesshoumaru teased, and Shippou snorted.

"Nah, not as hard as it is for you. I'd _never_ take Jaken over these two."

"He does have his uses. I get to clean my boots on his kimono whenever I wish."

"Uh-huh. You know he's your best friend for life, the creepy little toad."

"You leave my vassal alone."

"Oh-ho, _somebody's_ a little over-protective of their pet frog!"

"He's an _Imp._"

"He's a _frog._"

"He's an **IMP!**"

"He's a **toad!**"

"**_IMP!_**"

Shippou laughed and bolted towards the side of the cavern playfully, and Sesshoumaru took up pursuit. Ducking and dodging and weaving around most of the purposely wide slashes, the fox pulled out his leaves and tossed them into the air, using his multiplication to split into several different targets.

Sesshoumaru was actually surprised to find out that the kitsune's technique had evolved. His earlier copies, not summoned for the purpose of battle, had not carried his scent or any hint of aura, and left only the smell of the leaf and some residual impressions of light prints in the dirt. These copies he'd just created, though, were different, tailored for combat. They all smelled like Shippou, they all had some jyaki surrounding them, they all seemed hefty, their movements sounding identical, none having a heavier foot than the other...all things that Sesshoumaru had previously used to fish out the real fox from among the fakes.

So now he refocused his senses, searching for other things he might be able to use to pinpoint it. Though he could see the many different forms and swirls and clashes of jyaki and youki like those Inuyasha had trained to spot as he'd gained new powers with Tetsusaiga, the fox had also learned to disguise these things as well. His whirlpools were scattered and each seemed about the same, those swirls of energy Inuyasha would have cut with the Dragon-Scale Tetsusaiga. His jyaki winds shifted and rippled round and around, keeping the scraping of the winds rotating. _The kitsune apparently has figured out all of these things just by watching Inuyasha with his sword...**incredible.**_

Sesshoumaru almost laughed, though, as he realized what he'd **_finally_ **spotted that made all the difference.

Striking out with one lightning-fast claw, he swept the boy off his feet and pinned him to the ground, and all of the copies vanished as Shippou nervously splayed out his arms in a sign of helpless surrender.

"You got me, you got me! Now tell me, what gave me away? I thought **_for sure_** I had you that time! I thought of, like, **Everything!** I had fake demonic whirlpools, I covered them all in my scent, I shifted the demonic winds, I gave them heavy steps, I made sure they all breathed the right way with their efforts, they all sounded like me and..."

Sesshoumaru started to laugh and tugged at the fox's hair-ribbon, pulling it loose easily to dangle it before him.

"Your hair-ribbon was just a little loose, so one side of it was smaller. You didn't notice, and so none of your illusions matched your hair. It was the only thing that was different, though. You've gotten very good at making some rather convincing copies of yourself, Shippou," he chuckled as he stood and offered his hand to help him up.

Shippou blinked, but accepted the hand quickly, a small smile on his face as he took back the proffered ribbon.

"Well, thanks for noticing. And it _would be_ the hair **_you'd_** spot, out of **_all people_ **in the world."

"But of course," Sesshoumaru flicked his hair again, and Shippou let out an exaggerrated sigh.

"I **swear** you're gonna be reincarnated as a _peacock._"

"Oh, I should hope to be so lucky. To live a life of splendor and plenty in some noble's fenced in garden, showing off my beauty to attract the hens and chase off all the less beautiful males? It would be **_perfect_ **for **Me.**"

"Yup, and at the end of the day, the only thing that would keep you up at night would be the fear of having a _**fox**_ lingering near your door," Shippou said slyly, trying to suppress a grin.

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, crossed his arms, then began to smile ever so slowly as mischief overtook his mind.

"_Perhaps_ as a peacock, that would _indeed_ cause me distress. But as a dog taiyoukai, as I am **_now,_** it only makes me curious. **_Why_** would you be suggesting that I have to worry about **foxes** lingering near my door? Is **that** what you do with your time, Shippou? _Linger_? At **_my_** door?"

Shippou grew red in the face at the slight but obvious implications there. Having had many talks after his growth spurt and having a full understanding of the Adult Things now, if not really having the experience, he was sure he knew what kind of sick and twisted the dog was poking at.

But, being a fox himself, he wouldn't let that stop him from indulging in the dog's displays of humor. He may as well while he had the chance-it wasn't often that such opportunity knocked.

"Maybe I would linger at your door, _but alas_, it always seems your door is never open, or when it is, you're always gone. _I would_ that you were a peacock, at least **then** I would know where to find you," Shippou clasped his hands and spoke this in a stage voice that was a mockery of a woman in desperate throes of love-bidden poetry.

Toutousai, Myouga, and Moumou all sweatdropped. _Surely this was going a little too far, **even for Shippou...**_

So what happened next was even more of a shock.

Playing into the fox's little jab in such a way that he **_knew_** they'd never expect, Sesshoumaru decided to be the one to pull the biggest prank of the day.**_ I'll show them for sure._**

Taking one long step forward, reaching out with one arm, he swept wide and wrapped his arm around the back of the fox's waist, pulled him close, clasped Shippou's other hand in his own free hand, and looked deeply into the fox's eyes with a sultry, yearning look he put on just for this show.

"Oh, _Shippou,_ you needn't have lingered so long, I'd have opened if you but knocked _just twice,_" Sesshoumaru said and leaned in to kiss the fox.

Toutousai, Myouga, and Moumou dropped to the floor.

Shippou froze, unsure **_what in the fuck was going on_** and why he had **_no idea_ **what to do about it.

Just then, as if on some magical cue from the universe, Inuyasha made it to the end of the maze and walked in to find his brother kissing his...adopted fox brother.

And promptly fell, screaming.

**"THE FUCK IS THAT?!"**

Sesshoumaru dropped Shippou, who fell to his butt like a stone, and the dog laughed uproariously at them all. **_Of course_** he'd caught the scent of his brother drawing near, and getting **_that_** reaction was priceless.

Inuyasha shuddered as he tried not to think about it too hard. _Clearly,_ after seeing the look on Shippou's face, _it was some sort of payback prank.._.though he'd never imagined **_Sesshoumaru_** would go **That Far** just to beat the fox at his own game, but..._well, he's a weirdo anyways, with that perfect princess hair and everything else._

"So uh...Tetsusaiga brought me here, and I followed your scents through the maze when I got here. Who's the other foxes, friends of yours, Shippou?" Inuyasha nervously and quickly changed the subject.

"My apprentices," Shippou huffed, "little guys, just starting to learn."

Sesshoumaru snorted in amusement as Inuyasha shook his head, still trying to erase the image of watching him smooch on the fox like some two-bit tavern tramp.

"Alright, _whatever,_" Inuyasha huffed, more annoyed with himself than anything else right now honestly, "I see that Tenseiga is over there and there's something in a box behind a barrier on that pedestal, and from what I can tell, your sword and that box are talking, or whatever," Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga, then looking at it as it transformed into the Red Barrier-Breaker form, but went white again, he frowned, "only now it seems to want to wait...but why?"

Tenseiga rattled, and Sesshoumaru lifted his hand just in time to catch it as it flew to him.

The brothers glanced at each other, then looked at their swords and the box that was now shaking violently.

Toutousai and Myouga were hiding behind Moumou. Ah-Un was on the opposite side, watching curiously and intently, as was Moumou herself. Shippou was directly behind and between the two, waiting with bated breath. The two apprentices were over at the exit of the labyrinth, having dared not interrupt as they returned only to report that the humans had drawn very near to the entrance of the cave.

Tetsusaiga glowed red again, but this time something very strange happened. Tenseiga also began to glow faintly red and rattled immensely, nearly shaking Sesshoumaru's entire arm. It was so volatile that he used his other hand to press on his forearm and brace his hold a little better, which kind of surprised everyone there.

"It seems like...like Tetsusaiga is letting Tenseiga borrow it's power. Like Tenseiga is supposed to be the one to break the barrier, but all the techniques are in Tetsusaiga, so it needs to be close to absorb that energy..."

"I think so," Sesshoumaru agreed, then waited a few more moments as Tenseiga began to keen in a high pitch, "okay, let's try this, Tenseiga," he said softly, and lifting his hand off his arm, he swung at the barrier mightily.

The barrier cracked, slowly, but surely, and with a sound akin to breaking glass, a whoosh of stale air made a tiny dust-cloud on the floor before the box began to rattle even more vehemently.

"Now there's this seal," Sesshoumaru frowned, but as he reached for it, a sizzling sound warned him that he'd be unable to touch it as his claws heated up inches away from it.

"Hey, wait a minute," Shippou frowned as he stepped forward, "I know that kind of seal. It's something often used against us fox youkai, and I've been learning how to dispel it. Here, this should weaken it enough to tolerate the burns from the spiritual powers long enough to shred it," he said, slapping two sutras over it quickly.

Sesshoumaru didn't hesitate, tearing through the sutras with his claws and shaking his hand slightly at the burn from it. That would heal in a matter of probably minutes.

"This is _so bad,_" Myouga cried with Toutousai.

"I know it is, but they**_ never listen,_**" Toutousai bawled with his old friend.

Moumou snorted at them.

The seal broken, the Crystal of Souls practically flew from the box, which actually startled Sesshoumaru, but he was still good enough with his reflexes to catch it as it rushed out.

It shook and pulsed uncontrollably in his hand, and as it did so, both the Tetsusaiga and the Tenseiga began to glow in a familiar blackened haze, speckled with tiny pinpoints of light...

"Meidou Zangetsuha," Inuyasha whispered, "it wants you to use it again, but for what? I'm not sure I really know what's going on here, but this seems all kinda...really weird."

Sesshoumaru hummed thoughtfully, but he didn't answer right away. Instead, glancing to the side, he asked the two apprentice foxes a question.

"Do they know the way through the maze?"

"Uh, wh-what?" Maku and Saitou straightened up in apprehensive fear as he addressed them.

"The humans who have just arrived at the entrance of this cave. Can they get through the maze safely?"

"Uh, well we're not sure if-"

"He's telling you to _go bring them here,_ you idiots," Shippou sighed as they hurried to follow through, nervous and embarrassed and haphazard.

"Oh yeah, I did see some humans on my way here. I didn't think they'd follow me in though," Inuyasha said.

"They didn't follow you in, they had planned to journey here to begin with," Sesshoumaru said, "and I'm going to let them know that they must go home and find peace with what they have lost. _Not_ that they'll be likely to take it so kindly from an _evil youkai_, but the least I can do is _attempt_ it," he sighed.

As he spoke, the swords and the crystal had quieted, and he took this to mean that they'd understood his intent and were going to be patient with what they wanted him to do next.

"So is **Anybody** gonna tell me _exactly_ what's going on here, or do I just get to _guess?_" Inuyasha huffed.

"To make a long story short, this Crystal of Souls was part of what made Tenseiga, and your Father wanted to try and use it to bring back somebody who was long-dead. But he never managed to do it. I heard the humans talking about it at the Maboroshi, the Fox Inn where we take a lot of our exams. So I asked Toutousai, and we came here to make sure it was alright, and first we were gonna lead the humans away, but then the Crystal drew Tenseiga here so of course Sesshoumaru had to show up, and now he's gonna tell them that the guy's wife is at peace so he can't bring her back from the dead, and hopefully they'll go home. But they seem to be like most people and just think a youkai is evil by nature, so that might not be so easy to convince them of. Also, Tenseiga seems to want to reunite with the Crystal of Souls, but right now it looks like it's going to wait until this is resolved with those men."

"Uhm, well, alright," Inuyasha scratched his head, "I guess that explains a lot of this. I just get the feeling that there's a lot more to this than you're telling me."

"Oh, there is," Shippou conceded, "but I was giving you the short version because those humans are almost here."

"Oh."

About thirty seconds later, the humans walked into the cavern warily, eying the youkai before them. There were just the same four men Shippou had seen at he tavern, and they had their simple swords drawn warily.

"Look, they're not all humans," one of the men whispered.

"Look more closely,** _none_ **of them are humans," the leader huffed, shifting his stance warily.

Sesshoumaru sighed and lifted Tenseiga to show them.

"**This** is the Blade of Heaven you've been seeking, and you're not going to be able to use it as a human. It's a sword made from my own Father's fang, crafted to save those who could not save themselves. But the soul you seek has been gone for a long time, and she is at peace now, crossed through the veil and into the blessed heavens. Go now, your journey is over. Be at peace as she is, and live a long and prosperous life."

"Wow, such benevol-**ow,** Shippou,_ what was that for?!_"

"Don't ruin it, Inuyasha," Shippou hissed before the hanyou could get too loud or noticeable.

The leader of the band of the four men frowned, then sheathed his sword and took a step forward.

"Prove it, _Youkai_," he sneered, "and I shall leave."

"Very well," Sesshoumaru smirked, and swung Tenseiga full force at the man's chest.

The screams from the other men echoed around the cave as the stricken man fell in shock, but what surprised them all even more was that there was no blood, no wound, in fact not even a bruise or a scrape, just a brilliant purple light that followed the path of the strike that would have otherwise cut the man in twain.

"Wha...what _happened?_ I thought I was **_dead!_**" the man gasped, sitting up with a jolt.

"Tenseiga, the Blade of Heaven, cannot slay those who walk among the living. It's sole purpose is to protect life, it cannot kill. It is capable of sending the souls of those who are _not alive_ back to the realm of the Netherworld from whence they came, and that is how it can save a soul. If I swing Tenseiga at the pall-bearers from the Netherworld which guide a soul away from it's body, it may return, as long as the body is intact enough for it to heal and live once more. **However,** once that soul has left the mortal realm in peace, there's no bringing it back. This Crystal is not a means to resurrect one who is at peace."

As he spoke, Tenseiga pulsed and glowed a bright purple, which was something a little bit new, and Sesshoumaru gave it a look of wonder before letting it's sentience guide his hand.

Plunging the tip of the blade into the ground, Sesshoumaru let go as a ball of purple light flew up from the tiny schism in the ground and formed into the faint but distinct visage of a human woman.

"Mi..._**Mikuri?**_" the man clearly recognized his wife, and tears sprung to his eyes.

"The Sword of Heaven has called to me, has told me you were near. I have but a short time, my dear, to tell you that I love you...that I wish for you to be happy. It wasn't your fault, I was so ill...please, don't blame yourself."

"**Mikuri!**" the man gritted his teeth, "Mikuri, my love...I want so much for you to be with me..."

"But dear, all you need to do is be patient," she said, her voice cheerful even as it was also a bit sad, "there's all the time for us to see each other in the next life. I had everything I ever wanted in this life. I had love, I had family, I had friendship, and I had a wonderful husband who gave me beautiful children and a happy life. I've nothing left to ask of this world, nothing more to desire. Please keep the happiness we shared within your heart as you live the rest of your life...and don't be afraid to laugh instead of crying. The pain of my loss should not go drown out all our fond memories, should it? Oh, my love, just think of all the good things, the times...I always loved to see your sweet smile when you laughed at the children's jokes. I love you."

"Oh, Mikuri...I love you too," the man wiped away his tears and smiled, and her image faded away as the light dimmed down and the glow left the sword.

Sesshoumaru was full of surprises today, **q**uod **e**rat **d**emonstratum his next set of actions.

Gently taking hold of Tenseiga, he sheathed the sword, blinked at the man who was in a haze on his knees on the ground, and then knelt down on one knee and slipped his arm beneath the man's own to lift him up to his feet.

Now, _that alone_ would have been shocking enough in itself. But the_ next_ choice he made absolutely dropped all the rest of the jaws in the cave straight down to the floor.

Sesshoumaru drew his other arm around and pulled the man into his Mokomoko-sama for a big fluffy hug. **[**Had he _not_ been wearing his armor, he'd have been a little more centered, but he figured that armor would make it awkward.**]**

Though Sesshoumaru himself didn't shed any tears or seem too inherently upset, the taiyoukai allowed that human man, whom he didn't even know by name, to cry into his fluff for almost an hour, just holding him as he bawled about the loss of his dear loving wife, whom he'd travelled so far to try and save, only to find out that she was beyond that now.

Finally, the man drew back, wiping his tears and looking up at the taiyoukai with eyes full of gratitude.

"Thank you, Great Heavenly Youkai," he bowed his entire upper body, "it was worth the journey here to have heard her spirit at peace, to know that she does not suffer. Though I wished to have been able to save her, I trust she knows best in this matter...my wife was _always_ smarter than I," he blushed and sniffed away a few tears.

"Thanks are not necessary. I am curious, though. How did you first hear of these things?"

"A passing traveller who stayed for three days and nights at the tavern in my village mentioned it among many of his other tales. I never found out his name, but he was an old bag of bones with a big smile and only half his teeth. He carried a peculiar walking-stick, one that seemed to be carved and fitted in swirls of two different kinds of wood."

"Interesting..."

"I believe we're intruding on you, aren't we?" the man smiled and sniffed away the last few tears, "we'll depart."

Sesshoumaru nodded back in acknowledgement as the human packed up his friends and left, waving farewell as they made their way out of the cave.

Inuyasha waited patiently until the humans were out of earshot before asking his question.

**"WHAT IN THE FUCK WAS THAT?!"**

"Clearly, I've lost my mind. You just saw me kiss Shippou and hug a total stranger. I must be rabid," Sesshoumaru shrugged, and Inuyasha was incredulous. He didn't even know **_what_** to say to that, and just stared and pointed, as if asking the universe _who in the hell_ had just replaced his brother with a doppleganger.

"He's very troubled by Tenseiga's behavior and he's using humor to fight it because ever since he stopped being the old asshole version of himself he's had to come up with new coping mechanisms to deal with unexpected anxieties."

Shippou got punched in the head after he said all of that, but Inuyasha had a better understanding now.

"_Oohh._ Yeah, I guess that makes a lot of sense, only I just figured...well, I didn't figure it'd be **Humor** is all."

"You thought I couldn't be _funny?_" Sesshoumaru crossed his arms.

"Not couldn't, just _Wouldn't,_" Inuyasha crossed his arms too.

"Yeah, and you also thought I wouldn't ever kiss anyone, and well, there you go, you saw it."

"That was _so lame._"

"Shut up."

"It was _Shippou!_"

"_Shut Up!_"

"If anything, I hope **_you_** learned how to kiss from **_him,_** cause I mean, I only ever saw you kiss once, but he must've had like a few dozen or so with all the fox exams he takes and how many-"

"**_Shut UP!_**"

"I just hope you pick him some flowers before you try to skip all the way to the fondling part!" Inuyasha chuckled, and Sesshoumaru clenched his fist and leaped, and the brothers tore through the cave in a chase of their own.

"Ah, that's a little more normal," Shippou sighed with a smile.

Ah agreed with a nod. As did Un, along with the others present.

After a few minutes, though, the swords began to pulse again, and the brothers dropped their play-fight and went to the Crystal again, this time glancing around as everyone silently followed their unspoken signal to get a safe and reasonable distance away, lest they risk hurting anyone accidentally.

"Alright, so now Tenseiga wants you to use the Meidou Zangetsuha along with the Crystal I guess...but what _exactly_ are you supposed to do after that? How is this supposed to work? What are you supposed to _accomplish?_ I mean, from what I heard everyone talking about, the whole point of that is to try and bring someone long-dead back to life, but I don't think you can do that unless you have a body for the soul to use, and you don't. So what's the deal?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, it could be a trap!" Toutousai called from behind Moumou's flank.

"And just how are the two swords gonna trick us, old man? You _always_ told us to **_Trust them_** before!" Inuyasha huffed.

"Because Shishinki is _inside_ the Netherworld, and he _created_ the Meidou Zangetsuha, which is now a part of both of the swords forever! It's always possible that he still might have some control. Don't forget that he's a youkai born of death, and as such he **_cannot_** be truly destroyed by the Meidou or the Netherworld, only imprisoned. If he gets to that Crystal of Souls, he can escape from there. You better think it over, you two, **_before you regret it!_**"

"Well...I really _hate_ to say it, but he's _kinda_ got a point," Inuyasha murmured, and Sesshoumaru frowned.

"Inuyasha, you have the general idea of what everyone **Thought** they would try to do with this Crystal of Souls, but apparently Tenseiga has it's **_own_** ideas. And Toutousai could very well be correct, in that Shishinki may yet have a power over his technique, even while locked inside that realm, due to the way they're all connected. However...if there's **_one thing I won't do,_** it's this. **I refuse** to simply **_ignore it,_** whatever the case may be."

Inuyasha nodded, and his grip on Tetsusaiga tightened slightly.

"Yeah, I agree. We gotta figure out what's going on, and handle it when we know what to do. You ready?"

"Tenseiga is ready, and **_I_** am ready," Sesshoumaru agreed, and the swords and the Crystal pulsed, and Sesshoumaru let loose with a mighty swing that opened a Meidou just big enough for him to go through.

Inuyasha almost followed, but a flare of white-hot heat from the hilt of Tetsusaiga made him drop the sword for a moment, and he frowned as the Meidou closed behind his brother.

"Only for him, eh? Well now...somehow I just don't like that, but I'll play along for now, Tetsusaiga," Inuyasha huffed and picked up the sword to nest it back in it's sheath.

"Well, I guess now we just wait..." Inuyasha sighed.

Moumou mooed, and just like when the brothers had fought over the succession of the Meidou, and when she'd been showing Shippou all those visions of the past, the old cow projected a view of Sesshoumaru's journey onto the wall.

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

Please let me know what you think :)


	5. Tenseiga Has Told Me Her Name

**A/N:** When I read this part, I was curious. I caught myself wondering, _where did Jaken go?_ Surely after ten years, Rin's grown enough that she doesn't need his babysitting, and without accompanying Ah-Un or Lord Sesshoumaru himself, where could the little imp possibly have run off to? Is he actually back at the village where Ah-Un was and just mysteriously decided he wasn't going to go along, even though it would have been obvious this had something to do with his magnificent and adored Lord?

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

Sesshoumaru landed softly on the mysterious surface inside the Meidou. It was something solid and stable like dirt, but it seemed to shift and appear as a pathway to whomever was able to navigate the Netherworld, _but then the very Netherworld itself isn't exactly physical..._

This was something he pondered and churned over in the back of his mind as his nose took in all the scents, ones that were familiar enough due to his previous experience in the Netherworld, yet still felt foreign to his nose as the scents only found in this realm crowded into his mind in a jumbled mess, jumbled compared to normal anyways.

The Crystal of Souls wasn't shaking violently anymore, nor was Tenseiga, but they both still pulsed faintly. With a few moments of indecision, Sesshoumaru finally chose to tuck the Crystal into the space between his armor and his chest and secured by his fluff, where it fit snugly and would be difficult to dislodge even if he were flipping around and dodging all over the place. Next he sheathed Tenseiga, but still kept his left hand resting on the hilt as he walked cautiously further into the depths.

"Seems a little _different_ than when **_I_** went through the Meidou," Inuyasha furrowed his brow.

"The Netherworld isn't the same kind of place as here, and _everyone_ who enters does so _through their own path_ and their own _power_. Also, you have to remember that _both_ times **_you_** went inside the Meidou Zangetsuha, you weren't in the same place **_Sesshoumaru_** went. The first time you were getting sucked into the Meidou created by _Tenseiga_, which had stolen powers with a fragment of Kanna's mirror, _inside an enclosed realm created by Byakuya_. And the second time you travelled through was when you sought Kagome after Naraku's wish on the Jewel opened up a very _peculiar_ version of the Meidou to suck her **_into the Jewel itself._** That was _also_ quite different, as those souls were in a special part of the Netherworld, an area closed off from the rest and linked to the object of the Shikon Jewel. So perhaps that **_also_** has much to do with these differences," Toutousai spoke some of the most informative words he'd had to offer since Inuyasha had arrived.

"So, do you think that if I..." Inuyasha trailed off as Tetsusaiga gave a sharp rattle at his side, a defiant one.

"You _already_ got your answer from _**Tetsusaiga**_, it doesn't want you to go," Toutousai huffed.

Inuyasha sighed and kept watching, trying to pretend he was more bored than worried. They'd grown awful close these past few years, often spending nights alone together just talking about all the things they hadn't known about each other or all the times they'd wished...

Well, Inuyasha didn't _Normally_ sit around _Worrying_ about his big brother. Sesshoumaru could handle himself in just about any situation. But this just felt...somehow, it didn't _feel_ like it was gonna turn out so well.

Yet Tetsusaiga didn't want him to go. At least, not yet, and Inuyasha hoped that would change if Sesshoumaru got into any real trouble. Somehow he just had this nagging feeling that all those fears about Shishinki had some merit to them, **_and who knows what a youkai of death can do inside his own realm?_**

...'.'.'.'.'...

Sesshoumaru continued onward, meeting no resistance for quite some time as he traversed the path before him, though he remained wary of the ease of his passage. He was sure he wouldn't continue unhindered for too long, especially since it seemed many of the denizens of the Netherworld could sense the presence of the living, or Tenseiga itself.

Hours passed before he finally came upon a stone-still Meidou Hound, though this one was much larger than the one his Mother had summoned, and it stood at his approach and growled in warning.

As he drew his sword, though, it shifted it's stance and began to speak, something the other Meidou Hound hadn't seemed even capable of doing.

"You wish to bring the **Crystal of Souls** to the depths of the _Netherworld,_" it growled out in a low, echoing voice that sounded more like a multitude of voices all at once. "Explain yourself, **_Living One._** Just **Whom** do you seek to call back from the long-gone?"

The title of 'Living One' seemed **_highly emphasized,_** and Sesshoumaru paused as he studied the creature before him.

"I seek no soul," he finally answered, and the Meidou Hound let out a noise that could only be called a roar as it tossed it's head and shook it's thick mane about it's chest and shoulders, flicking it's tail to and fro.

"The Crystal of Souls has but **one purpose** here, and **_you_** travel with it. I **_sense_** it on your person. If you do not seek a soul to bring back from the long-gone, then you have _no purpose_ here. I ask you again, **_Living One._** **Whom** do you seek to bring back from the long-gone, back to the realm of the Living?"

Sesshoumaru paused again, and Tenseiga rattled and began to pull itself from it's sheath.

"So your **sword** will answer for you! **_Tenseiga_ **has told me her name," the Meidou Hound declared, "yet still you will hesitate to say it! Why, _**Living One,**_ do you falter before me? I sense you do not fear me, yet there is some apprehension about you. _Surely_ you know you have what you need to **_save_** her," it spoke.

From beyond the reach of the Meidou, Inuyasha scowled as he watched the events unfold.

"What's that hellhound doing, asking him all those questions? Sesshoumaru didn't have anybody in mind, _did he?_ At least, he didn't say _anything_ to **_me_**..."

"**_I_ **didn't think he had any particular person in mind _either,_" Myouga said as he hopped over to Inuyasha's shoulder for a better conversation, "but apparently, Tenseiga has read that desire in his heart, and the Meidou Hound can sense it in the sword that was born of that realm. So I suppose he really_ does_ have someone he wants to save. And somebody female at that, judging by what the hound said," he added.

"It's **_Kagura,_ **you idiots," Shippou sighed, "when will _any of you_ ever_** learn?**_"

"See, that makes sense," Inuyasha agreed, "but her body was...she disintegrated, and her spirit became one with the wind itself...I always thought she was at peace."

"She was content, but she didn't accomplish her true goals," Shippou shrugged, "and y'know, Sesshoumaru wasn't all that ready to let her go either, in case you didn't notice when we got there. _She_ was the reason he was able to let his heart open up enough to master the Tenseiga and unlock the Meidou Zangetsuha _to begin with._"

"He's right about that one," Toutousai agreed with a nod.

Sesshoumaru still stood before the Meidou Hound, fighting himself for reasons he couldn't explain.

Yes, he could feel it in his heart, but to admit it out loud, after having given up hope for so long..._after having watched her die a thousand times in my nightmares, _after spending countless days replaying the events,_ wishing I might have gotten to her before Naraku filled her body with poison, before it ate her from the inside out-_

"Kagura," he whispered, and the Tenseiga sprung from it's sheath and flew into the air above him, glowing a bright purple-blue before drifting down to his hand again, and he took it warily as he watched the Hound stare at him.

"Yes, Kagura," the Meidou Hound finally said as his sword quieted, "the wind sorceress, she who was born of that one called Naraku, the abomination. Her body was false to begin with, artificial, in a way incomplete. Though Naraku's choice to put her heart into her body and then destroy her _seemed_ to indicate that she was a separate creature, it was _only her **soul**_ that was different from his flesh. Her distinct scent was the perfume she wore to be sure that she smelled differently than him. She would have perished when he did, though, just as all his creations of flesh. Yet if you so desire, you may still bring her soul back to a living body, and she will be distinctly her own being. Do you wish to return _**Her** soul to **Life**_, **_Weilder of Tenseiga?_**"

Sesshoumaru huffed, studying the Meidou Hound very cautiously now._ This all sounds** far too simple.**_

"Before I answer you, how do I know I can **trust** you?"

"_Oh?_ **Trust me** to do _what,_ exactly? Have I made any promises? I merely asked you questions, Bearer of the Blade of Heaven. I've offered you no bargain, have I?"

Sesshoumaru frowned.

"Then what _exactly_ is the purpose of your questions?" he snarled a little at the edge of this query.

"**_I _guard** this path. It is **_my_** duty to examine **all** who would enter. Tenseiga has brought you this way, instead of that way, because Kagura's soul lies in quiet unrest beyond the path I protect. I must decide whether you may pass. That is why I question you, Sesshoumaru,_** Tenseiga's **chosen Master._ **_I cannot allow_** the Crystal of Souls to be lost for an evil to reclaim, at least not on my watch. If you **dare** to enter this territory, your resolve must be true, and you cannot lose yourself to what lies ahead of you. Kagura is not doomed forever, Sesshoumaru. Her soul is struggling, but in time she is expected to find peace. Yet you _can_ bring her back with the Crystal, but_ only_ if your **_heart_**, in which the power of your blade rests, is _pure enough_ and _true enough_ to conquer all the evils you will face. Were you here on your own, _without_ the Crystal or Tenseiga, it would make my job _much simpler_ than to ask so much. I would merely confound the path before you until you were turned in circles back to whence you came from."

Sesshoumaru still wavered for a brief moment, then he asked a question of his own.

"I wasn't prepared for this. I never had a body crafted for her, nor is there one for her to return to. I feel as if doing this now would be too hasty."

"It will take a longer time than you're expecting, and right now we have an audience. The third eye of a sacred cow is peering through the veil. Your friends will _surely_ find a solution by the time you return with her."

"Oh yeah, pawn it off on us, _of course,_" Inuyasha muttered, even though he knew he couldn't be heard. "And just _how_ are we supposed to make or find a body for her soul by the time he gets back? How long will it even _take?_"

"And how long would that take?" Sesshoumaru asked the Meidou Hound, who showed him a big toothy grin as it stood to the side to allow him passage.

"The flow of time here is strange and mutable, shifting to the side, one might say. But in the more consistent time of the realm of the Living, it would take no less than half of one lunar cycle to reach her, and the same to return with her. That's supposing you have relative ease in doing so. It may take much longer, if you encounter someone in there with_ particular_ strength of will, or an interest in stealing the Crystal of Souls for themselves."

"**Shishinki**," Sesshoumaru said with a deepening scowl.

"Hmm, yes, but he's **_not_** the **_only_** one," the Meidou Hound said darkly, and just as Sesshoumaru was about to be smart enough to ask who else, the Meidou Hound whisked it's tail across it's nose and simply vanished into the nothing.

"Well...how very helpful," Sesshoumaru sighed, sheathing Tenseiga again and continuing down the path.

...'.'.'.'.'...

Moumou mooed and shook her head a few times, panting as if physically exhausted.

"Hey, what's the deal?" Inuyasha huffed, but Toutousai gave him an indignant look.

"It takes some measure of energy for her to show us her visions, _especially_ for so long, and what's more, she was even using her powers to show Shippou some things a few days ago, though I can't say as I know all of what exactly she was showing him, so I'm guessing she's quite drained right now. She needs food and water and rest, she's **_not_** some _crystal ball or scrying mirror** y'know!**_**"**

"Wow, I get it, I'm not mad, I swear," Inuyasha held up both hands appeasingly, having never heard the old geezer being so very protective in his life. _He sure cares a lot about his cow,_ the hanyou realized.

"Come on ol' girl, let's get you some fresh feed," Toutousai grumbled as he walked with her out of the cave towards the fresh green grass and the cool running water of the nearby stream.

"You two go and humor the old man, offer your help and expect him to give you some chores. Go, hop to it, off with you guys," Shippou shooed away his apprentices yet again, who grumbled but begrudgingly did as they were told.

"You always make them go away after ten minutes?" Inuyasha commented offhandedly.

"No, but a lot of this is personal, and they normally get to slack off and goof around, so they can't complain too much when I do put them to work," Shippou said with a shrug, "or at least, they're wise enough to complain when I'm not around to hear it, and they get enough done that it satisfies me, which is all I care about right now. It's not their business to know so much about these things, especially since they can't keep their mouths shut for anything."

"Ah, I understand."

Ah snorted. **I sure don't understand why all these people say things with my name when they speak to each other.**

Un snorted back at his brother Ah, reminding him that his name wasn't the only use for that noise. _It's also one of those distinct sounds they use to acknowledge each other's words._

Ah nodded, then thought a thought to his brother, and they both chuffed in a short laugh.

**Ah, I understand,** Ah had thought, and Un agreed.

"What's up with them?" Inuyasha glanced at the dragon, wondering why Ah-Un suddenly made a noise that sounded like he, or well, they, or...it...was laughing.

"I guess something you said must've been funny," Shippou shrugged, to which the dragon snorted and laid both heads down again. The mortals could never truly understand the conversations Ah and Un had, for being a creature with not one but two heads, they communicated telepathically with each other. However, this link was innate, and they'd not developed the talent to think things back and forth with other beings. **_But it doesn't seem necessary anyways._**

"I wonder why it's _now,_ of all times, that the tales of the Crystal of Souls has brought us all here," Myouga began pondering out loud thoughtfully. "In my many years, I've come to realize that fate often brings us together for some kind of reason. It seems to me it was no_ coincidence_ that you were there to hear those humans, and that the chain of events that followed was inevitable, and that the Crystal of Souls may have even been responsible for _causing_ this all to happen, perhaps calling to the human in a dream or something of the like. But why not _**sooner**,_ when Kagura's soul was still freshly attached to this realm? I can understand that Sesshoumaru had to effectively resign himself to losing the Meidou in order to be worthy of it's full power, but it's just not making much sense that it took _another decade_ for the Crystal, or perhaps for **_Tenseiga_**, to decide it was time to try and bring her back."

"Yeah, _that's_ why I was leaning towards agreeing with Toutousai, but Sesshoumaru seems pretty confident, and I'm not going to deny him the right to make that choice. He has to follow his **heart,** if that's where it takes him," Inuyasha said with a heavy sigh, but there was a strong undercurrent of pride, despite the thick layer of worry piled on top.

"**Right,**" Shippou agreed, then stood and raised his fist in determination, "so we've got about...well, the Meidou Hound said he thought it would take about half a lunar cycle to find her and the same to bring her back out...so I wanna wager we should look at doing this in half the time, because Sesshoumaru is a serious over-achiever. We need to figure out this lack of a proper body situation, and _Fast._ I can get any kind of materials to Look like her, but I'm clueless as to the first thing to do about actually making a _proper_ artificial body..."

"Are we sure we really want to _Make_ an artificial body? She'd be...well, just like Kikyou was. Only thing is, all of the clay people and clay soldiers Urasue made, all the ones she had Enju make, they were crafted with _Human_ souls. We don't even know if it would work the same way with a _Youkai_ soul, which has a much different energy. Besides all of that, how would we make sure that life was sustained if it needed to be fed souls like Kikyou did? **_I_** wouldn't know how to summon shinidamachu to scour the lands for floating souls to keep her alive, and I'm not sure **_that's_** what a wind sorceress **_or_** my brother would even _want._ Somehow, I just don't think we're supposed to do it _that way._"

This put the five of them in deep thought. Ah-Un may not have acknowledged their talk with more than just opening all four eyes and looking over at them as they spoke, but he considered the situation in his own minds as well.

"I don't think they'd approve of killing someone else to use their body either, though. So what else do we do?" Shippou frowned.

"I'm not sure, Shippou," Inuyasha sighed, climbing to his feet and stretching out as he paused his speech to collect his words and crack his joints, "but I don't think the answer is something we already know. Since when has _anything_ this unique or important _ever_ been that easy for us?"

"Now **that** logic, I can follow," Shippou sighed, "it sure was _always_ complicated whenever it came to _anything_ having to do with the Shikon Jewel, or your swords for that matter. **Especially _your_ sword.** Tetsusaiga dragged us halfway across the lands _twenty-seven thousand times over_ each time you had to learn a _new technique_ to beat some new type of scheme of Naraku's _next impenetrable barrier_...ugh."

"Yeah, but it was worth it," Inuyasha smirked, flicking his ears up a little higher as he rested his hand on his _oh so awesome and mighty blade of victory._

"Yeah yeah," Shippou snickered, thinking to himself, _that's just how **Touga** looked in those visions._

"Perhaps there's a way to compromise between an artificial body and a real one," Myouga spoke suddenly, and the two of them looked at him with their eyebrows raised.

"Uh, whaddya mean, Myouga? How is there a compromise? How can you even call it a _compromise_ anyways?"

"Oh, words, pish-posh, you should_ know_ what I mean by that!" Myouga huffed and slapped his tiny fan down to get the fox's attention focused. "**_As I was saying,_** there may be a way to make a body that won't require all those things you were talking about. If you gather together, say...shapeless living flesh, like Naraku had shed in the aftermath of his transformation at Mount Hakurei? Not that there's any of _that_ left, but you could find something **_like it_ **and go from there to sculpt a living, yet inert and mindless body that would sustain it's own life, and place her soul inside."

"As good as that sounds, it's not like there's malleable mindless living flesh just _laying around_ for us to pick up and mold like clay, so we should probably start thinking of other things too," Inuyasha huffed.

"_Actually..._" Shippou put his fist into his palm, recalling something that he'd learned about long ago, "I'm fairly certain I know where we could get something _like that_ in enough quantity to make this work."

"Huh?" Inuyasha blinked, and Shippou smiled and stood, glancing at Inuyasha for only a moment.

"You're coming along, aren't you? Oh, don't worry about how long any of this takes, I'll send my messenger illusions back and forth to the village to let everyone else know we're okay and make sure they don't need us to come back."

"You didn't even have to ask," the hanyou grinned, and Ah-Un stood and shook both manes, snorting at them both and then offering his back very clearly.

"You're not staying here to wait for Sesshoumaru?"

Ah-Un seemed insistent, so they hopped on his back and Shippou pointed the way as they took off.

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

Since begging for reviews here usually only works when a series is actually popular enough to still air on television, perhaps this is where I should shamelessly pander my other fics instead!

Have you read my adorable old little oneshot **"A Hundred Years"** yet? I bet you'll like it :D


	6. A Matter of Faith

**A/N: **For some reason, as I re-read this chapter and struggled to think of a chapter title, the song "He Lives In You" from the Lion King II started mumbling along in the back of my mind like a quiet burbling stream at the edge of a forest. The result was a mental epiphany of miniscule proportions, a moment of triumph unworthy of mention.

**Special THANK YOU SHOUT OUT to the first story follower and reviewer, RoyalBlueRoses! **

I very much appreciate your honesty, your constructive criticism, and your wonderful flattery of course! I think you're absolutely right, but I'll tell you, it was the funniest thing that led to all the extra emphasis in those few chapters of this story. You notice it wasn't that way in the very first chapter!

So as I said in an earlier author's note, I uploaded all of this as raw text from notepad. Yet here I had all these Extra things going on with character thoughts, things I knew because I wrote it, but things that didn't seem like they'd be clear to a reader audience. So I asked myself how to convey that without having to add a lot of Additional explanation. Because I'm long-winded anyways. [I'm sure it's hard to tell.]

I decided, **"**_I'll do** that** with **'F**_**_ont__ Emphasis'_**_ or **whatever** you call it!_**"**

So after work, I came home, I stayed up ALL NIGHT and went to work again, then stupidly, after I got home from work, I stayed up all night AGAIN until the wee hours of the morning...

At which points I was so overtired, I got "emboldened" to emphasize almost everything. And, a little giddily over-excited at "all that I'd accomplished" in that, I hastily uploaded those chapters those nights, without bothering to question my own judgment. And now, due to my over-eagerness before, I have to go and re-check all the rest of my chapters for the same over-gleeful editing...which I was actually kind of being very lazy about re-doing. My apologies for that as well. I shall strive to improve!

**Further A/N:** As you can gather from the previous statements here, especially if you go read the review, it's been pointed out that I got a little overzealous with the emphasis. It seems to have detracted from the actual story itself, so I didn't do a lot of arbitrary font emphasis stuff and left it more barebones, which is hopefully a lot more immersive for the Storyline as opposed to distracting with visual blotting.

Please comment on your preference by leaving a review, and thank you for reading! :D

.

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

Even with Ah-Un's great speed and non-stop flight, it took them two and a half days to get to the place Shippou had heard of, and as they landed, Inuyasha made no bones about voicing his qualms.

"This place looks like nothing and smells like nothing. Are you sure we're in the right spot?"

"I'm sure of it. This is what it's supposed to be like," Shippou nodded firmly. "We have to wait for sunset before we'll be able to see the hidden door, so get a little rest now if you want. I'm gonna take a little run."

"Suit yourself," Inuyasha shrugged and stretched out, flopping down on the grass for a nap. It was early afternoon, so he wasn't worried about oversleeping past sunset, but he definitely felt cramped after riding two days without a break to loosen his muscles from being half-hunched and facing the wind.

Shippou took off into the forest, going through the treetops, looking around for reasons known only to him.

Pausing at the very far edge of the treeline that overlooked the patchy, nearly barren field, Shippou lifted his nose to the wind and took in a deep breath.

Yes, he was downwind of Inuyasha, and he was also downwind of the wide expanse of dirt and scrubgrass that seemed desolate and void of anything of interest.

And he caught a whiff of the scent he was looking for, just as he'd been told. It was something nobody would have ever thought of, something that didn't give away what was really hidden here, and it would be so easy to ignore, and almost impossible to notice.

_Except for the fact that this scent has no business in this meadow._ It wasn't a dangerous smell, or a strong smell, or anything like that. It was just slightly out of place, but it would take both a very keen nose and mind to piece it together. Shippou fished out the scent he was sure was the correct one to follow, and trailed it to the overgrown offering-shrine buried under more than a decade of moss and mushrooms, the wood now half-rotted back into soil. It wasn't a full-sized shrine, where a person would walk inside, but rather more like the roadside traveller shrines, roughly twice the size of the basket on the front of Kagome's bicycle thing, a place to burn incense or leave cakes.

Saying a small prayer, feeling it was only appropriate if he was going to desecrate the shrine-nevermind it was in a state of disrepair anyways-Shippou cracked open the little door and reached inside. Normally these things held only memorial offerings, and the real treasures were usually kept highly guarded, but this one was a secret.

_A dead secret, apparently,_ the fox huffed as a snake, much perturbed by it's den being disturbed, bit into his hand and thwarted his efforts to retrieve the object he sought.

"Ow," he grumbled, pulling the snake off his hand and sighing. "At least it wasn't poisonous," he reached in again.

This time his hand found something strange-feeling, and as soon as he touched it, he knew it was what he sought.

Pulling out the cruddy object, he cleaned the mud off it and picked at the detail edges for a few moments before wiping it along the grass and moss to get most of the rest of the dirt cleaned from it.

It was a very heavy, very distinct, very old key made from fine silver. It had tarnished an awful lot, but unlike iron it didn't rust into nothing. This was the key needed for the secret door, and it had given off a very distinct scent of the forge-oil used to "quench" the hot metal after it had been molded. This particular smith had chosen to use a perfume in his oil, since he had made the key for his love interest who had a very keen nose, a cat youkai who favored the scent of lavendar.

Well, there wasn't any lavendar growing within a few miles of this area, so that had been the beacon to finding it. Now he had to wait until sunset to use the key on the door, but not because the door was so well-hidden, but because it was enchanted, and would only reveal itself during the twilight hours.

Shippou returned then to where Inuyasha was already having a light snooze, and settled himself near the hanyou and against the dragon's flank, whereupon they all dozed off for a few hours until it was almost sunset.

Waking up just as the sun began to dip towards the horizon, but before it sank very far, they stood and stretched and shook themselves and then Inuyasha looked at Shippou. Shippou showed Inuyasha the key and explained that it was for the door they had to find at sunset, and they started looking around to see if they could spot it as the sky was bleeding reddish-orange rust onto the crests of the hills.

"Hey, I smell...a Lot of lavendar," Inuyasha closed his eyes and focused, and his nose pointed the way. When he opened his eyes, he was looking right at the door, and he grinned and called to the fox.

"Shippou, I found it!"

Shippou leapt over and smirked-it was a glimmering knothole in a massive twist of two trees, and as he inserted the key, the trees began to shift and unwind, and then they rent apart from each other to reveal a wide opening, large enough for even Ah-Un to accompany them, which he of course did.

The trees closed slowly behind them, and the key fell to the fox's feet. He picked it up and looked around at the serene meadow, full of lavender but also speckled with wildflowers and the tinkling sounds of chirping birds and crickets, bordered by thickets of berry bushes, and beyond those, an orchard of cherry trees with some ornamental gardening between and bordering those...

"What is this place?" Inuyasha asked Shippou, since he was clearly the one who knew the most about it.

"It's a sacred temple, actually, so please keep your paws in your sleeves and don't draw your sword, okay? This is one of the places where foxes can talk to Inari through the Myobu, two ethereal white fox spirits. Although Myobu aren't technically gods themselves, and they don't refer to themselves as demigods but rather as spirits, they have powers and types of energy that doesn't match what you or I would call a spirit. I think of them as demigods myself, but the point is that I'm going to see if they'll help."

"Aren't you supposed to bring offerings when you do these kinds of things?"

"I have offerings. A fox always carries an offering for a Myobu," Shippou said, though his voice lacked the usual snide reproval he loved to get away with, and was this time just informative and almost passively gentle.

_Wow,_ Inuyasha thought, _this place sure put the fox at peace._ He could see why, but the feeling wasn't that strong for him, although now that he knew where they were, he figured it was because of the fox's special connection.

As they wandered along the pathway, Inuyasha also realized that this was meant to be something of a meditative walk like the monks did at their temples, and his impatience might have gotten the better of him, had Ah-Un not tugged his sleeve the tiniest bit and started to bob both heads up and down in an almost silly manner.

"What's this about?" Inuyasha raised both eyebrows, and Un nudged the hanyou's palm with his head. Inuyasha started to scratch behind the ear, and Un's eyes closed in satisfaction.

Well, of course, then Ah moved his head over to the hanyou's other hand, which made Inuyasha chuckle as he indulged both of the dragon heads.

"Wouldn't want you jealous, right?" Inuyasha chuckled and scratched their ears for a good ten, maybe fifteen minutes before he realized he had stopped moving in order to do so, while Shippou had kept walking.

So now, Shippou was nearly at the entrance to the courtyard of the temple grounds, and Inuyasha sweatdropped and hurried to catch up.

"Hey, wait, I'm coming Shippou!" Inuyasha called, leaping to catch up.

Un looked at Ah. Ah looked at Un. They both smiled. It had worked just as they'd planned. Inuyasha's impatience had been averted, and now they could continue towards the Myobu.

Ah wondered what these Myobu would smell like. **I've seen many foxes before, and even a few white ones, but never the legendary demigod-like messengers of Inari.**

Un was not concerned by the Myobu. _I want to know if Inari will appear here, and whether or not Inari will be in the form of a man or of a woman this time._

Ah snorted. **That was a silly thought,** he thought.

Un snorted back. _There's nothing Wrong with a silly thought,_ he thought. And Ah agreed.

They crossed the temple courtyard, and Shippou gestured for Inuyasha to wait as he went up to a small ceremonial bell and rang it seven times, then clapped seven times, then pulled something out of his jacket pocket.

It was a small wooden knife, which made Inuyasha raise an eyebrow. He had no idea what was going on, but that was enough to rouse his curiousity. _This was the offering Shippou mentioned?_

But then, Shippou used one sharp claw to slice open his hand and coated the wooden knife in his own blood, then put a magical leaf and a youkai sutra onto the offering pedestal and laid the bloodied wooden blade on top of them.

For about six minutes, nothing happened. Shippou didn't seem bothered by this, simply sitting down and flicking both of his tails to cover his lap and waiting patiently.

The seventh minute after he'd placed his offering on the altar, a bright ball of light began to appear, first as a pinprick, then the size of a fist, then expanding until it was the size of a house, and finally gaining shape and form as a massive pure white fox.

"You whose parents called you Seven Treasures," the Myobu looked directly at Shippou, and it's voice was not spoken through it's mouth, but rather simply emanated from it's being in a rumbling boom of noise, "you make the offering of one who desires a favor, a gift. Tell me what you desire, Shippou."

"I have a friend who's trying to save the soul of...of the woman he loves. Her soul is in the Netherworld, but he has a way to bring her back. The problem is, her body is gone, and we don't want to do something like what Urasue the Necromancer was doing with the clay bodies she created, and we don't want to go kill anyone to steal their body either. It was suggested that maybe a sufficient amount of living flesh, like the clumps Naraku had used when he was transforming himself while inside the barrier at Mount Hakurei, might be able to be molded into a body she could use without having to supplant with other souls, a truly living body that wouldn't require killing, or death of any kind really, because those clay bodies needed to be sustained by the souls of the dead...I was hoping that you'd be able to help us out with this. I really want to help my friend...he's done so much to deserve it. I just don't know how, not without your help, great Myobu," Shippou bowed his head with his sincere plea.

"Hmm," the Myobu noised thoughtfully, "I could even do better than just clumps of living flesh, Shippou, but it may cost you more than you wish to pay. Just how important is this to you? Just what would you give?"

Inuyasha bristled, but Ah-Un chuffed at him almost reprovingly, as if to chide a child, and he crossed his arms and stayed his tongue. He didn't like the direction this was going right off the bat, but he'd let it be. _This is all up to Shippou right now, and after all, Shippou has become a Man. Well, close enough. He's bigger anyhow._

"Great Myobu," Shippou spoke something that Ah-Un quite approved of, although the fact that it was a classical and almost ritual exchange of dialogue eluded Inuyasha, "before I give you an offer, I would ask what kind of payment you desire."

"Ah, a true fox," the Myobu smiled, nodding at Shippou.

Ah narrowed his eyes. **I am not a fox!**

Un shifted and snuffed at him lightly. _It was a noise,_ he reminded Ah, _it was Just a Noise he used._

Ah winked at his twin with the eye that faced his brother. **Ah, yes, of course.** He knew all along.

A very subtle ripple of chuffing laughter caught the dragon for a moment, but it passed before anyone else took too much notice. Most of the laughter from their private jokes bounced around inside their minds.

Shippou straightened himself up a little bit, acknowledging the Myobu with a modest posture. _It's still so weird to hear words as if they're spoken and yet not see the white fox's mouth open and close for them, yet the Myobu smiles and nodded and everything else._

"I appreciate the honor of the traditional question when a fox is offered a trade, though I clearly have no need for jewels or gold, for objects or substance. What I require for such a feat," the Myobu paused to draw himself up to an almost royal sitting posture, nose slightly up, chest puffed, tail curled just so, "is your houshi-no-tama."

"My...my houshi-no-tama?" Shippou's voice caught as he started, jerking up almost as if he'd been slapped.

"What's that?" Inuyasha asked, and Ah-Un chuffed at him, as if he should know better.

Hearing and seeing everything in this realm, the Myobu answered Inuyasha's question.

"Hanyou, do you not know of your friend's houshi-no-tama? It is the essence of a fox's life-force, a unique type of soul. Among all creatures, every fox has the special power to move their soul. This is how a fox youkai such as your friend Shippou can use his multiplication technique and then move his soul to any copy he chooses to become. Though it cannot be too far away, and most prefer to hide it on their person rather than a nearby object. The one who is able to steal a fox's houshi-no-tama will have complete dominion over his soul, which is why most never reveal it."

"Oh," was the only response Inuyasha could think of, but then as it dawned on him, "hey, wait, you mean to tell me you want his SOUL for a favor?! So he has to _die_ for you to grant his wish?!"

"Not quite," the Myobu shook his head, "I only require the surrender of the houshi-no-tama, which will then bind him to my side as a servant. He will not die, nor lose his power, unless he so chooses to leave his houshi-no-tama and become an ordinary fox, to die an ordinary death, and I will not stop him from that."

Inuyasha was about to draw his sword in rage, but Shippou stopped him with a firm gesture of his arm.

"If you can create a living youkai body for her, one like the body she had...well," Shippou huffed, "a youkai body that looks just about the same and has the same powers, but smells different, where she can have a natural lifespan she would've had before, and she doesn't need to feed on souls or anything like that...if you can make that happen then I'll give you my houshi-no-tama," he said.

"Shippou, don't do it! Are you **_nuts?!_** Tell this asshole to back off and let's go figure out something else!"

"Inuyasha, please," Shippou lowered his head, "don't make this harder than it has to be. There's not enough time to figure out anything else. We have about two weeks. Not a year, not 'whenever the Jewel Shards become whole again' or an arbitrary 'however long it takes' situation. _Weeks._ Besides, to be even the servant of one of the Great Myobu, the messengers of the God Inari, the noblest of dieties among devout foxes, is an honor itself. There are thousands of foxes who would line up for the chance to pay this price, out of their own free will to serve. I can't pass up the bargain, Inuyasha. It's worth it to make Sesshoumaru happy. Think of it, Inuyasha. I'll find happiness in this kind of life and you know it. Sesshoumaru isn't so lucky. He needs this, more than anything. Sesshoumaru isn't the guy who can just go and find something to be joyful about every day. He tries, but we know better, don't we?"

Inuyasha was starting to cry. He didn't want to cry, he sure didn't think the damn fox deserved it for taking the easy stupid friggin' lame choice like a dumbass little...

"Dammit, Shippou," Inuyasha wiped his eyes, "why are you trying so hard to make him happy? He's gonna kill you for this, you know it. He's gonna fucking Kill You if you give this Myobu your soul. Why, Shippou?"

"Oh, I know he will," Shippou sniffed, "only he won't be able to, because the Myobu will be the only one who can do that. Even if he did, though, you know he'd just bring me back to life with Tenseiga. He can't stay that mad at me."

"Shut up," Inuyasha growled, trying to hide his tears, "just shut up, would you? Just stop and call it off, and we can go and, and find another mage maybe, or a-"

"Inuyasha, **NO,**" Shippou finally said firmly, and before there could be further discussion with his friend, he turned his tear-filled eyes and looked at the Myobu with the only question he had left. "Are you able to grant my wish, or is that beyond your power, Great Myobu?"

"It is but a simple task," the Myobu said.

"After my friend rescues her, will I get to see all my friends at least one more time to say goodbye?"

"That would be easy to arrange. I would take you to them myself."

Shippou didn't answer with words. Instead, reaching his hand as if to pull something out of his pocket, he instead drew his houshi-no-tama straight from his heart and held it out to the white fox before him.

Inuyasha broke down into sobs. It was almost as if the fox had died. _Will we ever see Shippou again, if this Myobu has plans to take him far away forever?_

The Myobu reached out his paw, and the houshi-no-tama drifted up towards it. Hovering there for a minute, the Myobu paused as he examined the kitsune's very soul, then he smiled and lifted it into the air, and with it he lifted his head until Shippou's houshi-no-tama hovered a few feet directly above his nose.

And for the first time, the noise he made reflected in the parting of his lips.

The Myobu howled.

It was a howl unlike anything they'd ever heard, one that echoed in every note and every pitch inside and outside their skulls all at once, piercing and yet not painful, loud and yet not deafening, a sound that wrapped itself in and around their very souls.

In fact, quite literally in Shippou's case, for as the Myobu howled, a swirl of energy began to encompass Shippou's houshi-no-tama, and it grew larger, and brighter, and began to spin faster and faster, and crackled and fizzed and sizzled and hissed and popped and sparked with energy.

This howl shook the realm and darkened the skies within for an entire seven minutes, and when the Myobu finished, he lowered the houshi-no-tama to his paw and held it before him again, studying it once more. It had expanded and then shrunk down again several times, and it's final size now was about four times larger than before. It retained all the interesting new properties of a ball of swirling streaks of blue-purple-green-black lightning instead of just a ball of bluish-greenish light.

"Catch," the Myobu smiled, tossing the houshi-no-tama back to Shippou.

Gasping as the houshi-no-tama hit him and re-entered his body, filling him with new power, Shippou was breathless and wracked with pain for a few seconds, then caught his breath and let out a heavy groan, his insides on fire.

"Breathe, and it will pass. Adjusting will be rough," the Myobu said calmly, and Shippou focused and breathed for a few minutes, and the sensations finally settled into a tolerable slight discomfort, a mild ache.

"What...what did you do? Was that a, a binding spell?" Shippou asked, coughing a bit.

"Binding? No, no, silly fox. I gave it back to you fair and square. Your houshi-no-tama is yours to keep, Shippou. I gave you the power to grant your own wish. Within my realm you will find a pool of algae, and when you gather it and imbue it with your fox magic, you'll be able to create this living body you so wish to craft. There's only one tiny little catch in this whole thing, one I'm sure any fox would appreciate," the Myobu smiled, revealing his trick.

"Oh no...what's that?" Shippou gulped, terrified about what had just happened to his soul.

"You wanted her to smell different than she did before. Tell me, Shippou, did she used to smell like algae?"

Shippou sweatdropped.

Inuyasha, relieved, and having just heard the clever white fox's final joke, fell down and laughed his ass off.

"I suppose that's a very small price to pay for the favor," Shippou said gracefully, truly overcome by gratitude as he bowed himself low with his head on the ground.

"Hmm, indeed," the Myobu chuckled. "You needn't think of it that way, though. Your willingness to sacrifice your own soul for the true love and happiness of your friend, the purity of your spirit...by virtue of your heartfelt desire you have earned that which you seek. There was no indecision in you, no fear of failure. You have faith in the fact that if you were to make this sacrifice, it would be worth it. You do not question whether it would be in vain. You gave me your houshi-no-tama freely because you give your friends your love freely. This is the very essence of Inari and of the white fox. This is the true path to acquiring the control over seireiki, spiritual power. This is what is required to craft the body you will make, and I have placed within your soul the guidance to do it. Go and collect the algae, you'll know what to do. As for the scent...you can probably mix in some herbs to sweeten her smell."

"I...I don't...th-thank you, Great Myobu!" Shippou said as tears of relief fell from his eyes.

"Yes, yes, now hurry, your friend will grow impatient," the white fox smiled.

_Still so weird that only the howl had made his lips move,_ but Shippou leapt to his feet and nodded, then looked over at Inuyasha, who was trying to pretend he hadn't just been crying like a big baby because he thought Shippou was all soul-tied to a fox diety and might be gone forever and all that shit.

"C'mon, let's go get that algae and make a new body for Kagura!"

"Yeah, let's do that," Inuyasha agreed hastily, and they both sniffed at the air before heading towards the scent of algae. _To be fair,_ Shippou thought as they approached it, _this isn't a particularly odorous or strong algae, not a foul or overwhelming scent, so at least if Kagura smells like this, well she won't smell like Naraku anyway._

Ah-Un paused and dipped both heads at the Myobu, who nodded in return.

_Yes,_ the Myobu agreed, _it was significant that the fox chose to keep his houshi-no-tama near to his heart, instead of hidden within his tails or his mouth like most simpler-minded foxes. The kitsune's instincts revealed as much about his nature as his choices. But that was not something I needed to go pointing out._

Ah-Un agreed. **_The kitsune really doesn't require instruction in following his heart, not often, not now._**

When Shippou got to the mucky pool where the algae was, he waded in and grabbed a few large handfuls of the stuff, then frowned and shook his head, instead using his foxfire on the small pool to surround and draw in all the algae he needed all at once.

Then, looking at his hand, he smiled.

"Oh, wow, I like this. I wish I could keep it," he chuckled.

"You mean...he's still gonna take your soul?" Inuyasha blinked, "I thought he said he wasn't..."

"Well, I don't think he will, but I'm guessing these powers are on loan while I'm here making this body and I'll probably lose them when we leave. Not many guardians of gods go around handing out permanent power boosts. This is likely just temporary so that I can do the task we came here to accomplish."

"Oh. Makes sense, I guess," Inuyasha nodded. "How long is this gonna take?"

"About a day. I have to get this all together, clean it up a little, dry it out some, form it into the basic shape of a body, use my magic illusions to define the final form, and then I have to infuse this energy in it and...and then it should morph into a flesh-and-blood youkai body, with like, organs and stuff. I'm not sure exactly what it does, well I mean, I don't know how I would ever explain it, I just, I see what I need to do in my mind. So weird, but so cool."

"Well, okay, I'm bored enough if you need some help," Inuyasha said.

"Alright, why don't you go get some flat stones cleaned off and lined up for me to put all the algae on?"

"Sure," and Inuyasha began to do just that.

The day progressed just as expected, and near nightfall, Inuyasha finally noticed that it was near nightfall.

Yet suddenly, this confused him.

"Hey, wait a minute. Wasn't it sunset when we came in here? What happened to that whole night? When we showed up it was mid-morning here..."

"You just now noticed that?" Shippou raised an eyebrow, then huffed, "Inuyasha, we walked into a brightly-lit tree and wound up in a meadow, where we met a celestial fox that spoke without moving his mouth and super-charged my soul to give me the knowledge to create a living body...and the thing that you feel is so off about all this happens to be the time of day?"

"I just wanted to know what happened to the nighttime," Inuyasha grumbled.

"It's already been night and gone again, Inuyasha. This is an illusory realm, but it hasn't changed what's on the other side of the tree trunk."

"Keh!"

"Almost finished," Shippou said, and paused as those words settled in the air.

After a few minutes, Inuyasha blinked.

"Uh, what are you just waiting for with that strange look on your face all of a sudden?"

"I just realized that I have to make her naked. If I include the clothes in the illusion, they'll be part of her body, so I can't do that."

"Oh..." Inuyasha blushed furiously, then coughed into his hand, "uh, w-well, we can cover her with my jacket."

"Oh, I won't have an issue covering her up afterwards, it's just that my illusion of her has to be Just Her Body, and the other thing is, I'm not sure I'll get it right..."

"Ooohhhh, great," Inuyasha's eye twitched, "so you need my help, how lovely."

"Hey, I'm not That Dense," Shippou protested, catching the assumption there, "I might not have Done anything yet, but I had Plenty of baths with Kagome before you ever did! I'm just talking about Kagura Specifically. Besides the time or two that we saw that spider-mark of Naraku's on her back, which I'm definitely not putting on this body, I don't know if I'll be able to be exactly accurate just based on taking a clothed illusion and trying to picture-"

"Shippou, as long as you get close enough, I'm not sure it's that important to get every single detail exactly the same as before. In fact, I bet you're better at it than you think anyways. Like you said, all you gotta do is try and imagine Kagura as you knew her, and...well, yeah, okay, it's weird and inappropriate," he admitted, red-faced.

Shippou let out an aggravated sigh and resigned himself to the task, pulling out a leaf and placing it on the big and vaguely woman-shaped piled of half-dried algae and nicer-smelling herbs.

First it looked like Kagura with her clothes on, but then the clothing slowly faded and the details beneath became visible, until finally, the appearance seemed solid and complete.

Inuyasha and Shippou both stared for a short time, then blushed and glanced at each other.

Shippou took a deep breath, then closed his eyes and focused on the spell the Myobu had grafted into his soul.

Purplish-bluish light flew from the tips of his claws, and a greenish aura with streaks of black began to swirl and twist around both Shippou and the algae-body. The algae began to glow the same purplish-bluish as the energy that sparked at Shippou's fingertips, and suddenly, Shippou fell to his knees, threw back his head, spread his arms, and let out a strange roar as his eyes flooded bright green.

The algae body spasmed, squished, glowed bright white, and then pulsed.

And the energy whooshed away swiftly, as Shippou hunched forward and planted his hands on the ground, panting...

And the body was flesh, youkai flesh, and alive. She didn't speak, but she was breathing, and there was a pulse.

"She will stay dormant like that until there is a soul inside the body, but I must suggest one thing, Shippou," the Myobu offered some parting advice as Inuyasha wrapped the new body in a blanket and laid her across Ah-Un's back.

"And what's that?"

"Should your friend in the the Netherworld fail to revive her soul, you might want to consider...disposing of this body. The illusion you chose to use for her appearance was in remembrance of her. If he cannot bring her back, then he should not see the falsetto which has a pulse and a breath...such things could drive anyone to madness."

"I understand," Shippou bowed his head solemnly, "but I have faith that I won't have to do that."

"Indeed you do," the Myobu chuckled, and vanished as abruptly as he'd appeared.

They left the illusory world and Shippou put the key back where he found it before they took off, covering up the little door to the little shrine with some moss again...

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy :) Let me know what you think, especially about the difference in font emphasis.


	7. A Gasp In His Mind

**A/N: Thanks so much for your continuous support, RoyalBlueRoses! :D  
**

To answer the one question you had, people got that whole "This Sesshomaru" thing LONG AGO. I'm pretty sure it was either poking at, or more likely, thinking the Japanese version of the anime to be more canon. Since that seiyu [voice actor] often actually does say "**kono _Sesshoumaru_**" a lot, and since a lot of rabid American fangirls couldn't wait for the English version to come out and had to go and torrent all the subtitled Japanese ones, little things like that stuck in the fanfiction world even though they never hit on the screen. [I've never bothered to find out which is more accurate in the manga, but I'm sure a brisk survey of the responses you get from Google would give you that answer.] In light of the fact that a good 75% or more of the fiction was spawned by Anime fangirls (like me) who are still about a third of the way oblvious to the finer non-canon slips, and not exclusively or originally Manga fangirls, who knew All Along that Ayame doesn't technically exist...well, you can see where the rampant misquotations and infectious chibi-isms would take it all too far. I do so ever appreciate when somebody else can understand the insanity of it, though, lol :D XD

To answer the Other question you had...well, that's what I was asking because I don't know. Funny, that. Lost track of him awhile back and haven't managed to spot the little frog yet, perhaps he's blending in with some lilypads?

However, I'm sure he'll turn up eventually. Jaken is most loyal and will inevitably seek out his Lord if it takes too long for Sesshoumaru to get to wherever he's supposed to be. I wouldn't worry too much! :D

**Further A/N: **I've been including some Japanese cultural references in this story, so you've been learning little bits of stuff about Japanese mythology! Yay for multi-tasking! I'm teaching and writing, you're reading fanfiction and learning. Score! :D Of course, if you want to figure out the separation between fact and fiction, you'll have to research it yourself. BOO! Oh well. It's not an assignment. I'm not getting paid to teach you, so haha. XP

Now for me to make it not about Japanese culture! WOOT! [And right after I bragged about it, because I'm crazy like that.]

.

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

By the time they returned, they'd spent almost an entire week away, due to the travel time. Shippou had been correct in assuming that the powers he'd gained had only been temporarily bequeathed, but he was thankful nonetheless.

What was the strangest was just having a living body laying there, looking like Kagura, doing nothing. It was almost surreal, as if she were already alive again, yet actually seeming oh so very dead...

Having been travelling past a few towns on the way anyhow, they'd picked up a decent outfit by trading a few coins and had managed to dress her without too much fuss. Now, just because they felt awkward not doing it, they laid her on a bed of hay covered with one blanket and then covered her with another blanket. It felt almost creepy to do it any other way; they couldn't see just propping her up in the corner like a bag of beans.

However, while Shippou was tending that, Inuyasha's first question when they returned was about his brother.

"Hey, how's Sesshoumaru doin' there?" he asked as he sat near Moumou, who was projecting onto the walls for them again. Inuyasha idly noticed that someone, probably the fox apprentices who'd been left behind, had brought in a lot of food and water for the cow so she would be comfortable, and made a cozy little in-cave camp to boot.

"Eh well, he's met some resistance, nothing he couldn't handle," Toutousai shrugged, "but it's not getting easier, and he's being awful stubborn about continuing to press onward despite his weariness. Far as we can tell from when Moumou's visions jump around, he's crossing through areas where time itself has a different pace, and so it seems that from his perspective, he's been in there about three times as long as we see. And it seems to happen more and more often as he goes deeper into the Netherworld. It's hard to explain, but Moumou has to sort of skip ahead a lot just to keep up with what he's doing now, even if her visions are following him step by step."

"That's not good," Inuyasha muttered, then doing a rough calculation in his mind, "so you mean to tell me that we spent a week here, but on his side it's been closer to three weeks? And that it's going to feel like more and more time the further he goes?"

"That's pretty much the idea," Myouga agreed, "and we're still not sure how much worse it'll get, or if it's going to be the same when he tries to return. Apparently, judging by the Guardian Meidou Hound's words, since the Tenseiga only borrowed the Meidou from the Tetsusaiga and does not hold that power itself any longer, it cannot be used to create an exit once he finds her."

"I don't know if your assumption is correct, on either count," Toutousai frowned and looked upward in thought as he replied to the flea's comment, "I don't think it has anything to do with that. She has to leave the Netherworld in such a way as to make a proper exit into her new body. Meidou Zangetsuha may not allow her to do that, perhaps not even with the Crystal of Souls."

"I was under the impression that the Crystal of Souls would hold her soul until Sesshoumaru could place it on her new body to bring her back to life," Myouga stated, "at least, that's basically how most soul-crystals work."

"That may be so," Toutousai shrugged, "but something tells me it's more complicated than that."

Inuyasha frowned as the old men spoke. _Sesshoumaru's been fighting increasingly difficult and frequent battles on his journey, not for one week, but for three. And it'll only get more distorted..._

_So if it took another week in the 'more consistent time of the Living Realm' or whatever, that would turn into..._

Well, even at this rate, and even if it were the exact same on the way back, and even if it didn't get worse, that was another week in real-time equalling three more weeks to Sesshoumaru.

But it wasn't staying at that ratio, according to the pattern, and if Sesshoumaru was going to make it back in the same time he'd already spent, presumably he would have to find her immediately and return straightaway.

Sesshoumaru didn't seem to have gotten close, though. There was no sign of him drawing near to her, nothing to hint that she was close, just flashes of fights and an increasingly-tired taiyoukai battling with Tenseiga in hand.

"That idiot," Inuyasha murmured, his ears flicking worriedly, "Even someone like Sesshoumaru can't go on like that forever. Is he tryin' to get himself _killed?!_"

...'.'.'.'.'...

Sesshoumaru panted and faced the last of the latest wave of enemies, Tenseiga humming in his hand.

"You dare intrude in the Netherworld and expect to walk around freely?! You've faced nothing in these minions I set upon you, pitiful mortal youkai! Now you shall face **_MMMEEEE!_**"

As the creature roared out his declaration, he revealed that he was a far more powerful and vast being than he'd seemed to be at first. Growing bigger, swiftly topping the size of Sessoumaru's true form, then bigger and bigger, larger than a castle holding, larger than their Father's bones, larger than a mountain...

Yet the sheer size wasn't all. This creature had changed drastically from the guise of a simple fat kappa-thing into a hulking, many-armed, tentacly, armored, spiky, ugly misshapen writhing mass of power.

Then, before it had stopped growing, it began to shift it's shape again, apparently not finding that form suited to it's tastes, and it kept getting bigger and became an unimaginably massive sable dragon. This kind of dragon was unfamiliar to Sesshoumaru and the others, for it was a Western Dragon, with batlike wings and a stocky, almost mastiff-like body shape, nothing akin to the sinewy snakelike body of their native Eastern Dragons. There were even single-tipped horns like those of a goat rather than the antler-like horns that he was used to seeing.

Yet it was very clearly a dragon nonetheless; it could be nothing else, not with that face, not with those fangs and those eyes and those claws, and even the mighty Sesshoumaru gave pause before the enormous beast.

_It's immense, so huge that it could've eaten Father in a few bites,_ Sesshoumaru thought.

He wasn't wrong. The dragon's form nearly filled his entire viewscope, so large was this creature. Not even in his true form could Sesshoumaru's entire being match the size of a single fang. He made Ryuukotsusei look like a wurmling.

**"Dare you attack me now, pitiful mortal youkai?"** the dragon's voice boomed and shook everything, and the ground, or whatever it was, began to quake and crumble. Sesshoumaru leaped off the pathway and hovered in the air, but he wasn't going to be foolish enough to attack before he thought over his options.

The dragon, though, wasn't going to give him a lot of time to think. Flapping his wings to create a powerful gust of unnatural wind, he swung his tail just as Sesshoumaru turned his head slightly against the buffeting winds.

Sesshoumaru didn't even know what hit him or how until he was being caught, breathless and wracked with pain, too stunned to have even blocked. Then he was being squished between two huge claws, armor cracking almost instantly, his chest and back bared and slowly being pinched together. The Crystal was pressed into his chest now, grinding the rough rock edges against him even through the shirt, putting even more pressure on those spots.

"You are but a bug to me right now, puny pathetic mortal youkai. I could squish you and it wouldn't even scratch a scale on my littlest finger. But I'm curious about you, so I'm going to ask you some questions. Why are you here?"

Sesshoumaru squirmed and struggled and tried to use his powers to break free, but something was stopping him from being able to transform, and after realizing that, a wave of dread caught him for the first time.

"Oh? So now you fear me, when you realize that I'm able to bind your true form?"

...'.'.'.'.'...

Inuyasha was losing a fight of his own at exactly the same time.

"TETSUSAIGA!" he snarled, and the sword hissed and crackled and burnt his hand, refusing to reveal the Meidou even as Inuyasha started to froth and snarl, "I have to save him! He's about to get **_KILLED!_**"

"It's not gonna let you in, so you may as well be quiet and watch," Toutousai tried to persuade him.

"Lord Inuyasha, even if Tetsusaiga were not preventing you from using the Meidou right now, you'd never make it to him in time. Besides, it must be stopping you for a reason."

"This coming from the two old geezers who were telling me this was a big trap, and NOW you're not worried?! **THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!** Toutousai, help me get to him!" Inuyasha was yelling, nearly panicking.

"Sit, boy!" Kagome's voice rang out.

Inuyasha froze, tense, mind blank as he braced for impact...

"I had to snap you out of it somehow," Shippou said apologetically as Inuyasha punched him in the head.

But, it had worked just enough to get the hanyou to pause and look at Tetsusaiga, focusing on it, then sighing as he very reluctantly slipped it slowly back into it's sheath.

"I don't get it," he muttered as he watched with morbid fearful hope, a turbulent mix of emotions welling within him.

...'.'.'.'.'...

Sesshoumaru tried not to show his fear, and bravely set his jaw and narrowed his eyes.

"You may have sealed my true form, but it's of no consequence. I don't need to use that power to defeat you."

"Oh, I suppose you want to use _this?_" the dragon laughed as he delicately plucked out Tenseiga between the tips of two of his other talons, ignoring the dog taiyoukai's fury, and dangled it before him tauntingly.

"You have no idea the kind of power you're insulting," Sesshoumaru snarled in a deep tone, infuriated, but he couldn't break free of the dragon's grasp, though it was but two fingers that held him still...

"You think this pitiful fang of your pitiful father means anything to **me?** In your mortal realm, this may be a fine blade, but here, it's a dead old bone, a nothing, just like your Sad Excuse of a Father, just like **_You!_**"

And he crushed Tenseiga to dust between his claws.

...'.'.'.'.'...

Inuyasha shrieked and leapt to his feet, drawing Tetsusaiga as it keened for it's sword-brother. Yet still it was refusing to allow Inuyasha to invoke the Meidou Zangetsuha, and the hanyou plunged Tetsusaiga into the dirt and fell to his hands and knees, started to punch the ground, crying and screaming and swearing at his stupid sword for being so stupid...

The others were mostly just stunned, and Shippou was starting to cry as well. Toutousai and Myouga took on grim and hopeless expressions, feeling as if their worst fears had been realized. The young foxes, catching their Sensei's grief, also began to look sad and mournful, for it seemed all was lost.

Ah-Un and Moumou, though, didn't seem all that concerned. Not that anyone was paying attention to that fact.

Un tilted his head slightly and looked at Inuyasha. _Why is he so afraid?_

Ah snuffed and rolled his eyes. **They must think this is the end for Lord Sesshoumaru,** he thought.

Un snorted. _Have they no Faith?_

**Apparently not,** Ah chuffed. **They'll just have to see for themselves.**

_Ah, you must be right,_ Un let out a long huff akin to a heavy sigh.

...'.'.'.'.'...

Sesshoumaru watched the dust fall in utter shock. He suddenly felt disconnected, surreal, and very suddenly...

Alone.

Tenseiga's link to his mind had been severed. It's guidance, it's presence, was gone. It's life...gone.

Just...

_...gone_

Sesshoumaru felt numb at first. Then he felt _sad,_ for a moment.

And then, he felt **Fear.**

This wasn't like the little twinges he felt when he first saw the creature transform. This wasn't how he'd felt when he saw Inuyasha's youkai blood overwhelm him. This was nothing like those passing moments of uncertainty that made him adjust his stance or dodge a powerful blow.

This was _**FEAR.**_ He was alone, in the dark, between two fingers of a monster that could, in fact, literally squash him like a bug. He couldn't transform into his true form, and now he had no weapon, and no hope of escape or victory. He was trapped, helpless, no way to break free, and even if he did, there was nowhere to run or hide, no way to fight.

For probably the first time in his entire life, Sesshoumaru was absolutely certain he was going to die.

"Shit," he swore, and tears sprung to his eyes, "I'm gonna die."

"Yes, you will die, if I choose to kill you," the dragon laughed condescendingly, "but I may yet be merciful. If you vow to take the Crystal of Souls back to the Living Realm, I shall send you back there, alive, and you will seal it again, and never return to the Netherworld. How about it, puny youkai? I think I'm being rather reasonable."

Sesshoumaru felt like he was being stupid, but something set off a red flag in his mind. _Why does he want that? If this dragon doesn't want the Crystal of Souls for itself, or in the Netherworld at all..._

He was sure a direct question wouldn't give him the answer he sought. So, Sesshoumaru would have to find out through a more clever means of inquiry. Fortunately, he was in the perfect position to do so.

Lowering his head, he scoffed and hid his face with his bangs.

"Go back to the Living Realm? I came here to save Kagura. Without her...my life will soon grow meaningless. You've already destroyed Tenseiga, which means there is no hope of bringing her back. No, dragon, I won't take the Crystal back to the mortal realm. I have no reason to go back there. Kill me now, so I may die at the hands of an enemy, and not my own. **_Do it, dragon!_** Put me out of my misery, and I'll swiftly make my way to her, unencumbered by flesh and bone, blood and body. If I cannot find her while I live, I'll surely find her when I die. Kill me, and end all this pointless suffering. To bear the passage of time without her has become too heavy a burden..."

"You do not wish to live?" the dragon raised both eye-ridges, seeming curious.

"If I cannot bring Kagura's soul back, what purpose do I have? Without Tenseiga, it's hopeless. Just get it over with and let me see her once more...I grow weary of the wait."

"Listen, pitiful youkai, I don't want you here, not with that Crystal of Souls. You've no business dragging it all over the Netherworld like that, and no business leaving it here when you die. _Take it **back,**_" he snarled.

Sesshoumaru let out a bitter scoff, something that sounded like a laugh and a sob rolled into one noise.

"Try as you may, I'm not going to do what you want me to. And if you send me back by force, I'll return to this very place again just to be spiteful, dragon. Kill me now or release me, but I will stay here until I can be with Kagura, alive or dead."

"And how could you return precisely here, after I just destroyed your Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru?"

"Oh? So you know who I am," Sesshoumaru seemed genuinely surprised.

The dragon smiled, revealing a small piece of information about himself.

"Oh, but you thought you'd already defeated the most powerful creature here in the Netherworld when you slew the Guardian who held that little child captive, didn't you? No, he was mighty, but he was also merely a sentry at a gate. I am one of the Lords of Hell, and I am also the current ruler of the domain wherein your soul will rest when you die. Just think, Sesshoumaru. On the day you die, I will become the Master of all that you will know until your next life."

"Then why not kill me now, and have your new servant?" Sesshoumaru huffed, a slight tone of annoyance creeping in.

"Because as of right now, you're useless to me if you're dead, Sesshoumaru," the dragon snarled and applied some pressure with his fingers, squeezing the breath from the dog's lungs for a few moments, "but don't think that means that I'm above doing it anyways. There are other living fools who manage to get here. You aren't the only option."

"Tell me, Lord of this part of hell," Sesshoumaru wheezed, his words spoken hoarsely, "how often do you have guests from the living realm that can hold their own as well as I?"

"You no longer have your precious Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru. You won't make it any further," the dragon sneered.

"Well, you destroyed Tenseiga, that's true," Sesshoumaru said quietly, his face drawn, "but that isn't enough for me to give up on her. I came here for a reason. And even if Tenseiga has been broken, even if I have no chance of defeating you, I cannot return without her," his voice began to grow a bit louder as his face took on a unique expression. "Tenseiga and the Crystal brought me here for a reason. The Mediou Hound asked me, and Tenseiga and I answered **As One.** Don't you **_Understand?!_** Kagura isn't at peace without me...and **_I_ **cannot be at peace without _**her.**_ I had spent all this time...trying to find rest within my soul, trying to feel comforted, but there were so many times, the way the breeze rustled at my back..."

Sesshoumaru didn't know he was crying, but his teardrops began to fall, drifting eerily slowly down towards the ground, almost floating at a feather-like speed.

...'.'.'.'.'...

Inuyasha was still sobbing a little bit, but he'd quieted enough to be able to watch and hear what was going on with his brother, and his own heart ached immensely. He wanted to wail and bawl like a baby, but needing to know what was going on was just barely enough to make him contain himself. Shippou was having just about the same difficulty, and Toutousai and Myouga were sobbing quietly but continuously. The fox apprentices were sniffling and wiping their eyes and noses plenty as well; it was contagious and moving enough to have a deep effect on them also.

Moumou and Ah-Un, however, seemed much less bothered. Everyone else, of course, assumed it was because they were just dumb animals, intelligent for beasts of burden but too stupid to understand what was actually going on.

In fact, they were well aware of most of the concepts, except for _Why_ everyone was so Afraid. _The fragility of their faith in Sesshoumaru, of all people, is almost..._

**Ridiculous,** Ah nudged his brother with a slight neck-bump.

_Indeed!_ Un bumped back, and they shared a silent chuckle in their minds.

...'.'.'.'.'...

"It is true, Sesshoumaru. Kagura is not at peace without you. And were you to remain with her, she may yet settle. Though it might first sadden her that you're dead, she would have a long time with you in the afterlife, before you move on to your next lives. However, are you sure that you have no unfinished business?"

"Of course I do," Sesshoumaru scowled, "but none so important as this."

"What of that human girl, the one you slew the Guardian in order to save?"

"Rin will live on without me. She's a happy girl."

"And your brother?"

"Keh!" Sesshoumaru sniffed, closing his eyes for a moment, "that brat? He's been trying to keep me dead for years. Serves him right that somebody else gets to kill me instead. Lousy halfbreed," he sniffed again, "no, I don't need to explain this to him. He'll hate me until he finds me again, but he will understand. Inuyasha would never be able to leave the love of his life in a state of unrest either. Idiot...well, I guess I'm an idiot too. No matter."

"And your vassal?"

"My vassal? You mean Jaken, don't you?"

"Yes, he's the one."

Sesshoumaru's face actually grew dark at the mention of that name, though only Ah-Un, of all the observers, already knew why that would be the one that would actually trouble him.

"Jaken...he will eventually find purpose. Rin will remind him of all the good times. Ah-Un will keep him company when he tires of the humans and their awkward affections. Inuyasha will knock some sense into him when he needs it. The others will help when they can. Jaken is loyal to a fault...if he's not too senile to remember it, I did specifically order him Not to kill himself in the event of my death."

"And you think he would actually obey that request?"

"Jaken takes pride in honoring my wishes. He will not throw away his life, if only because of his deep loyalty."

"So you would make them all suffer...just to have Kagura at your side, alive or dead?"

That one gave Sesshoumaru pause. A great pause, in fact, for it took at least ten minutes for him to answer.

"I suppose," he let out a shuddering sigh, and something about him seemed to deflate, as if he were beaten, "you've got a valid point. It would be awful selfish of me...to abandon them all, for a...for a dead woman..."

This time, he Knew he was crying, because it jolted him in the heart and choked up his throat, and he gritted his teeth and lowered his head, eyes shut tight against the unstoppable flood of tears.

What had begun as a stall for time and a ploy to fish out the dragon's motive had rapidly led to his own soul being laid bare, and now Sesshoumaru realized that despite his bravado, his distractions, his tedious tasks and simple pleasures these past ten years...

Everything he'd just said had been true. And the sad part was, he hadn't started to believe himself until he was halfway through saying it. At first, he thought he was just goading the dragon into giving him something useful, or letting down his guard, loosening his hold...

Now, he realized, he had been the fool all along. This ancient and powerful Lord of Hell could surely peer straight into his soul right from the start. He'd been tested. And he was sure he'd failed. His attempt had ended with futility and regret, and his own undeniable shame. _What a selfish, stupid, pitiful little whelp I've shown myself to be!_

His tears fell as he felt his hopes shatter, and after a few gut-wrenching moments of trying to suppress his grief, Sesshoumaru let out a primal scream of **_Hurt,_** a melancholy woeful noise, a sad surrender to the inevitable doom, and a self-mocking rage against his own pathetic weakness.

_I've failed. Kagura, I failed...I'm sorry..._

As his tears began to pool ever so slowly on the ground below, a glow began to emanate from a patch of dust.

And Sesshoumaru felt a gasp in his mind.

_Wait...What?!_

**He FELT a Gasp IN his Mind.**

"Ten..._Tenseiga?_" he whispered in shock.

The glowing dust, a mix of the metal dust and his tears, rose in a ball of light and reformed into the fabled sword, flying towards his hand.

The dragon let go of Sesshoumaru just before the blade could jab through him, then folded his wings and smiled at the taiyoukai, who had fumbled a bit to catch the sword and then the Crystal also before summoning up his powers of flight.

"Oh, so Tenseiga would relinquish it's freedom just to stay at your side? Interesting."

"Relinquish it's _freedom?_" Sesshoumaru raised both eyebrows, "what do you mean?"

"Tenseiga is the most unique sword ever created, Sesshoumaru. Tetsusaiga may be more legendary, but that is because tales of destruction garner larger crowds. Tetsusaiga is of the Living Land, and is most free when it guides your brother in battle. Yet if it were to be crushed into dust within the Netherworld as I had just done to Tenseiga, it would have released it's soul and died, just as any other living thing. Tenseiga's soul was born here. I can never destroy Tenseiga, nor can any other thing truly destroy it, not **Here** within the Netherworld. The essence of this place saturates the very air, and Tenseiga could have chosen, if it so wished, to leave your side forever in here. When I crushed the blade, Tenseiga could be **_Free_**, able to roam about and do as it's soul pleases. Yet what it wants the most, is to stay with you. This was the proof I required, in order to allow you to continue. Faced with death, forced to question your own convictions, your mortality, your resolve, and doing it Alone, without Tenseiga to guide you...I did not expect you to earn your passage, Sesshoumaru. However, I must say that the surprise is a pleasant one. I fully expected Tenseiga to find you unworthy."

Sesshoumaru was visibly shaken, but he managed to nod, and lifted Tenseiga high in a gesture of honoring it's return.

"Tenseiga, I swear I'll do my best not to let you down," he vowed, and it pulsed and glowed bright bluish-purple.

"You have a long way yet to go, and you've not had much rest. This will be one of your only chances," the dragon gestured as an area off to the side became illuminated. Sesshoumaru was sure it had just been created, but he was too addled to protest, only turning to bow his head.

"I appreciate it," he said in a numb murmur, his mind having finally been overloaded to the point of exhaustion, and he lowered Tenseiga, clutching it at his side now, as he walked over towards the peaceful little spot. Pausing as he looked at it, trying to focus with his eyes as his mind struggled to stay sharp, he mumbled, "It's an illusion."

"Yes, indeed it is, but would you rather it look like the bland ground? Rest. Nothing dares disturb _**Me,**_ unless I choose to let it draw near that is. You will continue onwards once you awaken, I presume. It's still a long way from here."

Sesshoumaru sighed and chose not to even attempt to resist the hospitable gesture. He settled down and leaned his back against the illusion of the tree and nearly instantly fell asleep, his Mokomoko-sama wrapped around him as he pulled his knees close enough to rest his elbows on them, laying his forearms across one another, holding Tenseiga at an angle between his legs and his torso, closing his eyes...

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

**.**

So here you are, the plot thickens! Now we have these powerful forces in the Netherworld, and they intervene for reasons known only to them. What will happen next? See what's in store when you tune in for more! :D Any comments, questions, suggestions, or world news you'd like to share, please leave it in a review!

**P**ost **S**criptum**:** The color "**sable**" is sometimes interpreted as black and other times as a dark blackish-brown and other times as a dark grayish-brown. I was intending to convey a dark blackish-brown color, like the currently more popular term "espresso" would imply in a paint or woodstain. But calling it an "espresso dragon" just seemed silly.


	8. Ah-Un, What Big Teeth You Have!

**A/N:** Here was another question I asked myself when I pondered some of the nuances of the tangents this fic could elaborate on. Why didn't I make Kohaku and Rin an official _family_ couple? I mean, going by the timeline I put, he'd be about twenty-one or just near twenty-two (being eleven at the start of the series and therefore nearly twelve when Naraku died), she'd be about seventeen or eighteen, and in Feudal Japan, that was a fairly typical age for you to be married and already have a kid or two, if not sooner.

The answer I found was disturbing.

I'm terrified to see what kind of character Sesshoumaru would become if I wrote Kohaku and Rin's children into existence. I may like to stretch the very limits of the imagination, but even I can't go that far. Because I don't know what it would look like. And it frightens me. It very much frightens me. I dare not spawn their lineage carelessly.

Why? Well, why do people with agoraphobia fear public places full of other people? Why do arachnophobics fear spiders, aquaphobics fear water? It's irrational, illogical, insane, imaginary, and yet it exists. Just as Shippou's first Smashing Top which he used upon Manten...which, although it was an illusion as Myouga said, it still had enough substance to destroy his enemy's last hair upon his head. So how then, perchance, could it be naught but a dream...when it causes effects truly as real as it seems?

.

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

Sesshoumaru awoke with a start, not knowing for how long he'd been asleep, but he saw that the illusion of the patch of meadow and the tree he'd leaned against began to fade as he stood and stretched out, revealing that it had been just a stone on a patch of dirt.

_No matter._ Sesshoumaru looked at Tenseiga, paused to think very deeply, then lifted the blade and closed his eyes.

Tenseiga pulsed and drifted towards the side, and he opened his eyes again and went the way it had pointed.

There were still more battles, but now he felt better, with his mind and body rested and Tenseiga choosing to be at his side, come better or worse...he swore if he saw Father in here, he'd renounce all the bad things he'd ever said and thank the old dog for bequeathing him the sword. _Tenseiga has become one of my truest friends._

Time wore on, and more battles made him weary yet again, and now he wasn't even sure he knew how long he'd been in the Netherworld or how far he'd come. Things like that didn't seem to matter the same way here as they did in the Living Realm, and Sesshoumaru only knew that he'd had so many fights for so long that he needed to rest once more. And it had been much, much longer than before. Mind-numbingly longer.

Yet this time, there was the problem of safety. Uncertainty crept into his mind, and he decided he would have to do something he very rarely did.

Transforming into his ball of light form, he hung, suspended, touching nothing, in a half-conscious state of what could be nearly resting. It was uncomfortable, and he couldn't really Sleep in this form, but it allowed him to get some decent recuperation of his energy and attune himself to help heal and assauge the aches of his normal form, while also keeping him aware of all his surroundings and relatively agile and out of immediate danger.

For about ten hours, he floated like that, then he finally decided he could wait no longer, that would have to do.

Tenseiga pulsed as he resumed his humanlike form, and he followed it into a great dark nothingness...

_It's cold, blacker than the blackest night, the same icy void of bone-chilling emptiness that had swept Rin off when she'd been brought to this place._ Only now, it was swirling around Him, and Sesshoumaru felt the grip of death sinking into every fiber of his being as the smothering void tried to pull the life from his body.

He fought it and kept a level head, having felt this before, but how he wished it weren't so...tiresome, draining, exhausting, those words paled in comparison to what this did to him...but they were the most appropriate words.

It continued for a long time, and he now had no idea where he was in the blank black nothing, but he followed the guidance of Tenseiga itself unquestioningly into the depths of the abyss.

.'.'.

To Sesshoumaru, this time had no definition. He couldn't have called it days or weeks or hours or months, because he really didn't know.

On the flip side in the land of the living, Moumou's projections had become a bit disjointed and choppy as she tried to discern what was important and focus on that. Sometimes they saw three different projections that all slightly overlapped in the middle, other times they saw what was happening in real-time so it was insanely fast with erratic changes of speed where it slowed down to normal for a few seconds and then went back to ultra-sonic...

Mostly, though, she managed to pluck out what was noteworthy and show them that in a normal manner, but through this they were all aware that now they were seeing things slightly delayed, so whatever they saw happening from here...

No matter what they saw, they couldn't stop it. Apparently, the deeper one delved into the Nether, the further they got from being in the same time-frame. Nobody was really equipped to explain or fully understand all of this, but it was clear that the effect it had was going to make it almost impossible for them to do anything other than watch.

Well, that and the fact that Tetsusaiga had already scorched Inuyasha's hands several times for trying to overpower it's resistance and failing miserably.

By now it had been almost another week, in the land of the living anyways, since the dragon who'd called himself one of the Lords of Hell had spoken to Sesshoumaru. They were guessing that it was now taking Sesshoumaru much more than three times longer compared to them, because of how Moumou's projections struggled to keep up. This total two weeks had probably been more like several months to Sesshoumaru, though they weren't sure how many 'several' really was.

"Why won't you let me?!" Inuyasha growled miserably as he finally laid Tetsusaiga nearby and then turned away and crossed his arms, huffing at it. "FINE! Be That Way! Stupid Tetsusaiga!"

Given the situation, even Toutousai dared not reprimand him. In fact, that was a rather tame version of what they'd all expected. _For Inuyasha to be even beyond the level of throwing a full-blown tantrum...for him to be sitting and stewing over it like this_...normally they would expect him to go running out to crush some rocks or cut some wood, to fist-fight some forest youkai or hunt something down for dinner. No, when Inuyasha Acted, his frustration still had an air of confidence in his ability to do something about it. When he stopped and sat down to Think...that was when he worried them. Inuyasha wasn't much of a strategist. He could be very clever when he Needed to be, but that just wasn't his way of doing things.

But right now, he was trying to make plans. Without Tetsusaiga. He may as well have been trying to make plans to go for a walk without using his feet.

Yet Shippou decided he would join the hanyou, sitting next to him quietly, head low in thought.

"I don't know why I'm not allowed to help him with this," Inuyasha said after a few minutes of quiet.

"I don't know either. I have a theory, that it's because Sesshoumaru has to save her by himself because it's a way of making sure his heart is worthy of the goal he's trying to accomplish."

"Yeah, well, worthy people have strong allies and good brothers, don't they?" Inuyasha muttered.

"You know how this works."

"Keh!"

"You'd have never let him purposely help you with Tetsusaiga."

"Oh, bullshit, I'd have been...yeah, okay, you're right, I'd have told him to bug off, but that's not the same. I'd have asked for his help if I thought I couldn't do it on my own when it came to saving one of my friends."

"But this isn't like that. This is about Sesshoumaru travelling, not just to the depths of the Netherworld, but to the depths of his own heart. Tenseiga and Tetsusaiga were crafted to gain their power, not from how many foes they defeated or how many lives they saved, but by the power within the weilder's heart. Sesshoumaru Must do this without us, despite how much we want to help him when it looks like he's in a bad way or facing death."

"If that Meidou Hound was right, he should be getting to her any time now," Inuyasha said, trying to be positive.

"Yes, that's right, he did say this was about the quickest it should take to get to her," Shippou agreed, "but he also said it could very well take a lot longer. I guess we were a bit over-zealous, but it's Sesshoumaru after all, there was no reason to think any different..." he sighed, glancing over at the 'sleeping' Kagura body.

"It turned out alright anyhow. At least we've got one thing accomplished so he doesn't have to worry," Inuyasha said with a little huff, "maybe it was just a matter of distance or something, and not ability at all. Even if everything in the Netherworld is different than here, they still seem to know their way around, so there's gotta be some kind of uniformity in there, right? Some way for them to tell where they are based on how far away something else is."

"Right, and Kagura must simply be so far from the place the Meidou Hound stood guard that it would be impossible to even begin to get close," Shippou agreed, and they sat thinking for a few minutes longer.

"Toutousai, Moumou, I think it's time for a little break for you, isn't it? I don't wanna have you fall out on me when the important things are actually happening, and right now it's just my brother kicking ass like usual, so go ahead and eat and rest now," Inuyasha stood and stretched out, "I think I'm gonna do the same," he added as he took off without another word, heading out of the cave for the forest nearby to presumably hunt something to eat.

"Ah-Un, let's go," Shippou gestured, having taken over the 'care' of the dragon since he'd brought Inuyasha here.

In truth, the dragon needed no reminder to care for his own basic needs, but he didn't dislike the company, so he usually entertained their silly notions of treating him like a horse. He'd even been eating like one for years in the presence of the others just because it was what Rin had assumed all that many years ago. Of course Sesshoumaru knew better and turned him loose for a hunt when they were alone, as did Jaken on occasion, but silly little Rin, along with most of the others, hadn't seen him do anything but graze.

Shippou, though, now paused to wonder as he glanced at the dragon's teeth when he bent one head to nibble at some young tender grasses starting to grow at the mouth of the cave.

"Ah-Un, your teeth sure look more like those of a predator than those of a grazer. You sure you don't want some nice juicy meat to go with that grass?"

Ah-Un raised both heads and seemed to smile at the fox, then shook both manes and shifted stance, showing his back.

Shippou climbed on and Ah-Un leapt into the air, zooming swiftly through the trees in search of prey.

_There!_

The dragon banked a swift turn, and Ah opened his mouth to fire off a bolt of lightning.

**SSZZZZEEUUPPPTT!**

A strange crackling noise was followed by a sizzling hiss as Ah-Un circled back around and scooped up his prize, a fat and somewhat smoky charred groundhog. It was gone in two bites, one for each mouth.

"Well, I guess you do like meat after all!" Shippou chuckled, "Rin had it all wrong."

Ah-Un chuffed in slight laughter at the fox's words, then continued to hunt down a few various small game animals, until satisfied with that, and the last catch, an especially rotund hare, got tossed over one shoulder to land in front of the kitsune.

"Oh, you're giving me this one? Why, thanks, Ah-Un," Shippou grinned, "I appreciate it."

The dragon bugled and flew back, landing at the mouth of the cave and walking in with the kitsune as Shippou went ahead and chewed on the rabbit. For being cooked by a lightning bolt, it wasn't that bad.

It was another several hours before Inuyasha returned, presumably after having a nap elsewhere, and a few more hours after that before Toutousai and Moumou were both awake. Everyone else had rested and awoken much more refreshed and ready now, and the two fox apprentices were busily making themselves look busy so that they didn't look so idle that they needed a task handed to them. Right now they were brewing up some tea and apparently stewing up a bone broth. Why they even thought that was something anybody would need was beyond Shippou, but he snorted and rolled his eyes, approving of their methods. He would let it slide. They already knew so much at this point, he figured it really didn't matter if they kept eavesdropping, and at least they were learning some useful techniques in the meantime. Not really combat techniques, but then, that wasn't what he wanted to teach them yet.

"Alright, now that everyone got some fresh air and good food and rest, and it's been a while, let's see how things are going in the Netherworld," Inuyasha tried very hard to sound casual about it as he looked at Moumou.

.'.'.

Moumou obligingly blinked her eyes a few times and projected the visions onto the wall, this time honing in on a few distinct battles that had apparently been happening during this time. With three eyes instead of one, she could have feasibly shown them all the events at their speed had time only been three times faster, by showing them different things at once. Now, even though she split her visions, all three sets were cycling rapidly to find what was the most important, although presumably she was also making up for the time they'd missed.

Inuyasha started to grow alternately disturbed, saddened, and outraged at the various things he saw...but try as he might to rouse a response, Tetsusaiga remained infuriatingly silent in his white-knuckled grip.

Of course, all the others reacted in their ways as well-Shippou mostly felt about the same way Inuyasha did, Myouga and Toutousai carried the sadder and more tired look of old men who didn't want to see someone die but were sure it was about to happen anytime now, and Moumou and Ah-Un, appearing dumb, were completely unfazed by the obstacles, as they had complete confidence in the taiyoukai's ability to accomplish his goal. And the two apprentice foxes made a few speculations and gathered their own reactions from the preponderance of the feelings inside the cave.

They saw visions of Sesshoumaru battling hundreds of youkai, sweeping Tenseiga this way and that. Mokomoko-sama was holding the Crystal very close to his shoulder, which meant that a lot of attacks were aimed there, and as a result the usually pristine banner of glistening white fur was torn and sullied with gashes and blood, even a few gaping wounds and scorch-marks from fiery blows.

If he'd been hit that many times, things weren't going so well for him. That didn't mean he was hopeless, as all of them were well aware, but it did mean that Sesshoumaru wasn't having an easy time of it.

Another vision showed him getting his leg wrapped up by some tentacle and being swiftly flung towards something, a wall of a cliff or maybe just a very big stone, and the sound of his body slamming into it with a squishy crackly noise indicating he'd broken several bones...

Inuyasha had snarled and punched the ground when that happened, but still Tetsusaiga made not a flutter, nor would it reveal the Meidou Zangetsuha to him, so he just growled under his breath and kept watching.

Another flash of his fights showed a spiky protrusion of some kind piercing through his chest, and Inuyasha could see splinters of bone cracking away like brittle armor. Another vision showed Sesshoumaru being stomped on by a big creature that looked something like a cross between an elephant and a lizard-well, it was hard to explain, but it was ugly and it was huge. More visions showed up, and fewer and fewer of them showed Sesshoumaru winning his fights while more of them showed him just barely surviving, bleeding and limping away, searching for safety only to find yet another fight...

Until finally, Sesshoumaru had enough. After a very long fight-and now Moumou's visions seemed to be getting close to catching up to the 'present moments' because it had slowed down somewhat-Sesshoumaru was apparently seeking some kind of place to rest yet again. He cautiously walked around in a few slow circles, then went a little further, and then he doubled back again, sniffing around to evaluate the area...

During this time, he'd been so hurt that he'd actually restorted to using Tenseiga almost as a walking stick, a sort of balance brace for his injured body. Sure, he could conjure up some levitation to help, but that would use up more of his energy than just putting a little muscle into it, so he suffered the indignity anyways.

However, when he finally went to settle down for some rest, he had just begun to lean back against the smooth rock when the Netherworld creatures pounced.

Sesshoumaru looked at them. There were only six of them, and they weren't all that big or scary. He must've killed over a hundred of these same kind mixed in with the thousands of creatures he'd slain since he was here. They were nothings, little pipsqueaks, insignificant henchmen, pitiful underlings.

But he was so sick of fighting. He was so tired. He was so hurt. He was getting nowhere. And he just wanted it all to stop already. He'd had enough of this endless battle. He didn't mind continuing, but he needed to have a rest. It had been so long now...

So he swung Tenseiga one more time, roared out a gutteral noise of frustration, and fled. He didn't know where he could possibly go, whether there was even a proper direction anymore, or how he would know where he could stop for some rest, but he couldn't stay here, where he couldn't catch a break.

That, for some reason, very deeply troubled Inuyasha. Though he said nothing, there was a subtle shift in him.

.'.'.

Sesshoumaru flew for a long time, seeking a place to rest, dodging and transforming and avoiding all the flying and floating things that pursued him until he was far beyond their concerns. For what made up many minutes in the realm of the living and was indeed many hours or even perhaps days in the Netherworld, Sesshoumaru just Flew, and Flew.

Finally, he reached a place that he decided, _Here is where I land, and whatever I find here, let it be Rest, or I shall fight until there are no more enemies, or until I am dead._

As he landed, the ground trembled and transformed into a massive red dragon, much like the one from before.

"Another Lord of Hell, I presume?" Sesshoumaru asked warily, and the dragon eyed him with amusement.

"So you've met my brother, have you? Oh, he does go on about that title so much, but it's nothing special. I'm far stronger than he is, even without the fancy appendage of a dignified rank. Tell me, little Living Thing, what is this unusual energy I sense about you? It feels like a soul crystal, but a strange one."

"I should think your brother already told you that," Sesshoumaru said a bit guardedly, unsure what to expect, what to do if this creature were to stand in his way. _Judging by his brother..._

"Oh? But you know how long it takes for anything to get here from there. I mean, clearly you do know, because you've managed to get all the way here. To think, and you haven't lost your soul yet! You must be awful determined, being from the Living Realm and making it this far...but you look awfully injured too, Living Thing. Tell me, would you dare even fight another single battle to find what you seek?"

Sesshoumaru raised both eyebrows, but the heavy damage he'd sustained made him especially cautious despite the very thinly veiled and numerous implications within that simple question.

"I won't say that having another fight is what I wish right now, nor would it be accurate to say I have no desire to continue. I'm merely seeking a place to rest before I go on looking for the one I wish to set free from her unrest."

"Yes, wisely put," the red dragon smiled, and his teeth were each fully the size of Sesshoumaru's true form. "Now if I were to tell you that only one more fight is necessary for you to find her, would you still wait and rest?"

"That would depend on the situation. Given the choice, I think taking a rest now would be the wisest thing to do, but something tells me you disagree. Clearly you have a case to make, so go ahead, explain," Sesshoumaru said.

"It's very simple. You can choose to rest, and the journey from here will be similar to the journey from my brother to here, only a bit shorter. Or you can forsake the rest and fight my avatar instead, and if you win, I'll take you directly to her, after a rest if you still prefer it at that time."

Sesshoumaru frowned.

"And if I lose?"

"You forfeit your rest."

Sesshoumaru furrowed his brow and scowled, not sure he liked any of those ideas.

"An avatar, you say? Just what is this avatar of yours?"

"It's made to equal you in power, but to obey my whim. A puppet, more or less, but one that takes on certain unique qualities based on who I fight."

Shippou leaped to his feet and clenched both fists, as if yelling at the projection could do anybody any good.

"**DON'T DO IT, SESSHOUMARU! _IT'S A TRAP!_**"

"He can't hear you, Shippou," Toutousai said.

"Just be quiet and let them think what they will, Toutousai," Myouga advised from his shoulder.

"Pretty sure that doesn't work, Shippou," Inuyasha muttered, his own face dark as the fox growled.

"I know that, but I hope he doesn't make a bad choice..."

Sesshoumaru looked at Tenseiga in his hand for a long time before he finally sheathed it and lowered his defensive stance into a passive stand.

"If what you're telling me is that you're offering either a safe rest or a risky chance, I'll take the safe rest. I may be strong, and impatient, and eager, and resilient, but I'm no fool, dragon. I won't fight your avatar, not if there's a more certain way. If I lose, it may very well be the death of me. Without recuperating now, there's not a chance for me to make it to her if you win. I can't risk her eternal soul for my own impulsive bravado."

"Yet not a thought to the fate of your own soul! Sesshoumaru, a long way you've come indeed, little dog," the dragon smiled, revealing that he, just as his brother, had known more than he let on all along. "Yes, that is wise. Go on and rest. Leave off what's left of your armor, it will be fixed when you rise."

"Thank you," Sesshoumaru bowed his head and took off what little was left of his armor, not about to ask any kind of stupid questions about how it would be fixed. He knew it was a special armor that fixed itself several times before needing to be replenished with youki, and that he himself had to fuel it with his own energy to fix it these days because he'd not had the patience or the concern to go and get his armorsmith to redo it. He presumed it would be as nothing to this dragon to drop a speck of it's immense power into the armor for it to fix itself.

The dragon but touched the armor once Sesshoumaru was asleep a few minutes after settling down, and it not only fixed itself, it took on a vast reserve of energy that would allow it to repair itself somewhere near a thousand times over, if he was calculating accurately. And that was if the damage was severe.

.'.'.

"Whew, he made the right choice," Shippou sighed in relief, sitting back down.

"He's not stupid, y'know!" Inuyasha protested.

"You were just as worried as I was!"

"That's cause he's my brother, not cause I think he's stupid!"

"You're a big fat jerk!"

"I'm not fat!"

"So you admit that you're a big jerk!"

"Bigger'n you, ya little runt!"

"JERK!"

"Oh, I'll show you Jerk alright, lemme JERK on your damn tails, ya brat!"

"Never gonna catch me, Inuyasha!"

"Sure the hell I will, Shippou!"

"Ah, they're at it again," Myouga observed. "But they seem a little relieved now that he's able to take a break."

Ah nodded in agreement, as did Un, along with Toutousai, and Moumou, who had stopped projecting and rested just a bit while Sesshoumaru rested. This was right about where she'd caught up to the current, and now the time was actually a little closer to normal, oddly enough. Not that any of them understood why or how, only knowing that it was.

"Seems to me that Tetsusaiga isn't just stopping Inuyasha because Sesshoumaru has to do this for himself, but also it appears that it won't regain the power to use the Meidou until Tenseiga chooses to return. It might not even be possible, after how much energy it loaned to it's brother sword to make sure Sesshoumaru got there in one piece," Toutousai finally disclosed while Inuyasha and Shippou were too preoccupied to overhear.

"I suspected that might be the case, but I wasn't going to say anything," Myouga nodded. "This doesn't bode well for either of them if Sesshoumaru doesn't manage to make it out alive, though."

"I don't think it's his technique that Inuyasha is worried about right now," Toutousai said quietly.

"Indeed, he's much more concerned about Sesshoumaru than anything else right now. Not that I blame him. The outlook is rather bleak if you think about it. So far he's come across not only one, but two dragons who were both capable of ending his life without so much as a second thought, and he was fortunate enough that they weren't his enemies. I'm not sure how long such luck can hold out, but let's just hope it lasts until he can bring Kagura back."

"Hmm, you're right about that, Myouga. I hate to see what happens if he runs across a powerful enemy like one of the dragons he's been encountering..."

.'.'.

Sesshoumaru awoke an immeasurable amount of time later, and unlike the last time, the dragon hadn't vanished. His armor was fixed perfectly, and as he crawled to his feet and stretched-well, he'd healed, but everything was still fairly sore and a little achy-he made a gesture next, one of gratitude, bowing his head at the dragon as he knelt to pick up his armor.

"She's very important to you, Sesshoumaru. I don't suppose you've made any plans about what you're going to do if you really can't save her, have you?" the red dragon remarked, one eye that was bigger than the dog's entire true form focused on sizing up his reactions.

Sesshoumaru frowned and adjusted his sash just a little before finishing with the loops and tying it off.

"I'm not sure what kind of question that is. If I try everything and it still doesn't work, what kind of plan am I even supposed to have for that? I suppose then I have to deal with the fact that it's not meant to be. However, I'm not going to plan for a reality that I...that I cannot simply allow to continue undeterred. I have to try all that I'm capable of before I give up on her again. I..." here he paused, a shudder catching his breath for a moment as he fought with his emotions to keep a level voice, "I gave up on her once, not because I wanted to, because I felt that choice had been taken from me. I accepted it. I tried to, anyways. I felt her presence in the wind and I tried finding solace in that, in knowing she was free. But something about it was always...woeful, a little bit. Sad. It didn't feel like she was ever truly, honestly at peace. She stayed around like an unhappy ghost, fluttering her sad songs through whispers of a breeze in my hair, the closest she could get to touching me, the closest I could get to feeling her..."

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes briefly as a single tear fell, and his fist clenched slightly around Tenseiga's hilt.

"Kagura hasn't moved on, and neither have I. Until I try everything...there is no plan for my future that doesn't include her. I've spent ten years trying to bear this accursed loneliness, and I can't do it anymore. Not unless I can prove that there really is no way to bring her back. Then, at least, I can put my own heart to rest, knowing that whatever there was I could try, I tried it. Whatever there was to do, I did it. Nothing else will suffice."

"And if you must give your own life, your own soul, in order to save her?"

What surprised the dragon most was the lack of hesitation in Sesshoumaru's reply.

"I would give my life and my soul to save hers," Sesshoumaru answered straightaway.

"Even if it meant eternal torment?"

"Eternal is a matter of perception. I'd be reincarnated eventually."

"Sure, sure, but how long do you think it would Feel like? You've only been here a couple of weeks in the time of the Living Realm, but here, it must've taken much longer. I'd say that given the route you travelled, you've been fighting for about eight months or so, at least in your mortal perception of time in the Nether. And to think, you haven't even eaten and you've only slept twice, yet still you trudge onwards like the good little soldier you were raised to be," the dragon chuckled.

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, but wisely decided not to take offense to the slight.

"I don't need to eat to stay alive, and I don't require much sleep to do so either."

"That wasn't the point of my astute observations," the dragon snorted, rolling his eyes. Presumably he rolled the other one anyways, but where he was positioned now only one eye was visible.

"Then what, pray tell, is the point of all your talk?" Sesshoumaru finally asked directly.

"You still cannot begin to fathom the danger that lies ahead of you, Sesshoumaru. As my brother is a Lord of Hell, so too is Shishinki, only here he is much stronger than you remember him. Stronger, in fact, than my brother, and with dominion over not only my dark-winged kin, but also several other Lords of Hell. Shishinki would have power enough to defeat even me. Should you be so unfortunate as to cross paths with him, it's over for you. Shishinki is never going to let you leave without confrontation if he catches you anywhere in the Nether."

"Shishinki didn't seem all that tough," Sesshoumaru murmured, but the dragon just laughed at him.

"That was Shishinki's avatar, much like the one I offered to craft to battle you. Shishinki was born of the Nether and most of his power has resided here for all of his existence. The child who grew into the youkai you battled was but an extension of Shishinki's true soul, which lay dormant here whilst he experienced life as a mortal. That was but a curiousity of his, an experiment, a fun outing. Shishinki was his own father, though I doubt that mortal woman who gave birth to his incarnate form was truly able to wrap her mind around it. No, Sesshoumaru, in here Shishinki has unimaginable strength. Here, Shishinki could hold your soul for literal eternity, could wrap his hands around your essence and force you to stay forever, with no hope of reincarnation or release. Shishinki could bring all your worst nightmares to reality and invent new ways to hurt you for a time you cannot even begin to fathom."

"So you want me to stop, is that it? You want me to run away in fear and leave Kagura alone in the cold darkness of the Nether just to avoid Shishinki's wrath?" Sesshoumaru scowled, clutching Tenseiga tightly.

"It would be the wisest thing to do. You'll never make it to her without him catching up to you, or at least you're not going to get out before he realizes you're trying to make off with a dead soul."

"I guess I'll have to figure it out when that happens, unless you're going to tell me there's some secret to beating him that I don't know," Sesshoumaru huffed.

"No, no secret. You won't beat him," the dragon said most assuredly. "Not any more than you could defeat me."

Sesshoumaru scowled, huffing as he started to travel along the path laid before him.

"You still won't turn back and save yourself?" the dragon asked curiously as the dog continued to move onward.

Sesshoumaru paused, glancing to the side to look the dragon in the eye as he spoke.

"Nothing you can say will stop me from finding Kagura and saving her from this endless misery. Shishinki may yet be able to have his way with me, but not before I rescue her. I'll make sure of that much," he huffed and walked on.

The dragon smiled and stood, flapped his mighty wings twice, rose into the air, and vanished from sight.

Sesshoumaru paused just long enough to blink at the disappearance, then he pressed onward...

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

.

.'.

See, here's my theory. The further one goes into the Netherworld, the more distorted the space-time difference is between the realms. There wasn't much distortion, if any at all, when Sesshoumaru went to rescue Rin because that wasn't a great distance from Sesshoumaru's starting point. However, in this scenario, he's searching without any kind of lead as to where he should start or where the journey ends, as opposed to having followed a Meidou Hound and then chasing a cloud of darkness when Rin got carted off like bait. Plus, Rin had a physical body, therefore she had a physical scent. Kagura doesn't have a physical body anymore...so she no longer has a physical scent. A dog can't sniff out what isn't there, y'know XD


	9. Final Negotiation

**A/N:** In this chapter in particular, please note that there is a distinction used between _'one set of thoughts in a telepathic exchange'_ and _the other set of thoughts_ and that this is in the form of 'singular quotation marks' or 'apostrophes' being used for only one of the characters as I have just illustrated.

Now if you can't figure it out from there, you shouldn't have been able to make it this far, so to hell with you. Er, I mean, I LOVE YOU FOR BEING SO PATIENT! Lulz XD

Just so you're aware, it's the last chapter now and this part of the story officially closes. I'm currently working on a sequel and there will be more, and no, it won't take me forever to finish it either! It just seemed like this came to a nice closing point and was ready to graduate to a stand-alone read. Be patient, there's more being brewed. I'll upload after I finish off and do some proofreading, shouldn't take me too long. Look for a similar title soon! :)

.

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

Another indeterminable amount of time elapsed, and Sesshoumaru pushed through the hordes that grew thick with more powerful foes. He sustained heavier injuries, he made more retreats and less offensive strikes. And finally, he was altogether avoiding any confrontation he could dodge, skewing around this way and that to be as unpredictable as possible while he travelled through a territory that was seething with wretched souls that wished to attack him.

Now it had been another five days in the timespan of the living, and Inuyasha was beside himself with multitudes of inner conflict, which were expressed with alternate bouts of rage and deep solitary thought. Shippou wasn't faring much better, and Toutousai and Myouga had resigned themselves to being voices of reason. The two fox apprentices had wisely chosen to voice their thoughts as little as possible and just skirt around the edges doing simple tasks like making sure Moumou and Ah-Un got out for fresh air or boiling water for tea.

Moumou and Ah-Un were not worried about Sesshoumaru, but they had begun to grow restless for his return, mostly due to the fact that a certain hanyou was irascible and was driving everyone else into a mad frenzy in his absence.

"Alright, it's been almost three weeks and he still hasn't gotten to her, what gives?! I thought that hound said it would only take two weeks!"

"No, he said that was the fastest Sesshoumaru could even hope to reach her, and he did distinctly warn that it may take longer if he came across any obstacles. As you see, there is much opposition at every turn," Myouga added.

Inuyasha snarled and flicked his ears flatly to his head for a moment, then clenched his fist and punched the wall, cracking a piece of a stalactite in half and sending it shearing off, landing right in front of him.

"I don't understand," Inuyasha muttered, an anxious fear creeping into the undertone of his voice, "why would it take him so long to make it to her? It's not some ordinary youkai we're talking about. It's Sesshoumaru."

"Perhaps," Toutousai ventured to speak, albeit with a very timid and small voice, "this is more about the journey through the barriers of his heart, rather than the boundaries of the Nether. After all, it's Tenseiga guiding him this entire way. Perhaps this is simply how long his lesson must be. Your brother is a great warrior, and it's true that over the past decade he has grown much in the ways of understanding and accepting his own feelings...but Inuyasha, you of all people must know that Sesshoumaru has always had struggles in following his heart. I think the Meidou Hound that guarded the path was merely giving us a timeframe that we could use to make sure we had a body ready for Kagura, not really to tell us precisely how long he'd take."

Inuyasha huffed at that and flicked his ears a few times, then finally put his arms into his sleeves and looked over his shoulder at the old man, and though he still seemed annoyed, the feeling had become a little tamer.

"So you think it's got more to do with Sesshoumaru's emotions than with the Netherworld itself?"

"Well if you think about it, that would also explain a lot of why Tetsusaiga won't let you help," the smith added. "I think it's much as Shippou said. He simply must do this for himself. To help him would be to dishonor him."

"Yeah, I guess you could be right," Inuyasha murmured, looking down in thought. "So he's not just battling because of his heart, he's battling with and against his heart too. Sesshoumaru...that's gotta be rough, big brother," he said in a quiet voice that was almost a whisper, laying a hand on Tetsusaiga as his own heart clenched with an ache.

.'.'.

Sesshoumaru fought and fled and fled and fought and fled and fled some more, and fought when he found that he could no longer flee. He thrice narrowly escaped from being surrounded at every side, and his injuries grew numerous and grave. Now he was covered in his own blood from head to toe, more red than the usual pristine white, one arm broken as the other hand clutched Tenseiga in a death-grip, one leg fractured badly down the whole length of the femur, his fluffy Mokomoko-sama bedraggled and drenched in blood, heavy with it in fact, and shredded into a third it's normal size. One side of his face had taken a hefty blow, his cheekbone bared and cracked, his eye swollen shut, blood now drying along that entire side of his face and neck in a coating of rust-tinged red. Though his armor began fixing itself somewhat, even with the help from the red dragon, it's self-repair powers struggled to keep up with all the massive damages Sesshoumaru shunted to this last shield he had.

Sesshoumaru felt himself growing heavier, felt himself growing slower, felt himself growing clumsier...weaker...

**_'Am I dying?'_**

The dog pondered this as he felt the vibrations and noises culminate when a harsh blow rattled along his chestplate and thrummed loudly into a fuzz in his ears, which were now both gushing blood from his lacerated eardrums. He felt his own roar, but he barely had a sensation of actually Hearing it. His eyes closed and his body drifted, almost as if he were slowing down, just drifted into the void...

Tenseiga touched his mind, and he felt a strange sort of question forming at the fingertips of his consciousness, at the very edge of the link between him and his sword, at the hilt and at his palm, where their spirits joined...

_Are you afraid of death, Sesshoumaru?_ it asked him.

Sesshoumaru paused, a slight bit of the fog clearing as he asked himself that question.

_'Only a little,'_ he thought back, _'but not enough that I can't let go of life.'_

_Then why keep fighting? If you stay here, you will be with Kagura._

Sesshoumaru thought about that.

_'I don't **want** to die.'_

_Why? What is it about life that makes it so much more meaningful than the afterlife? Here you would not age, you would not grow feeble. Here you can spend an eternity together, as mates for time immeasurable._

_'Because life is...'_

Sesshoumaru felt a void in his thoughts fill with a sudden realization, something that hadn't really clicked before.

_'Because life is the only thing that can make one Feel alive...the passage of time is denied to the dead. Nothing changes until there is a new life.'_

Tenseiga seemed to give a sensation of approval as it reached out through the link yet again.

_Yes, Sesshoumaru, there you have it. That is why Shishinki took contract with a living woman. You now understand the true value of life, the worth of it. It cannot be obtained through any means until it has first come from another living thing. It is a precious and limited commodity, something to cherish. It is not a given, and is so easily taken. Rise, Sesshoumaru. Your life has not fled, nor will I leave your side. Now you are ready. Now we will unleash my greater power._

_'Your...your greater power?'_

_Trust me. I will guide your strike. Hold steady and swing with all your might, Sesshoumaru._

Sesshoumaru gasped, and the time that floated by ever so slowly was now suddenly thrust into lightning-speed.

Tenseiga pulsed. Sesshoumaru tightened his grip, shifted his body, and brought his other hand over to weild his sword two-handed, an unusual stance for him, and especially odd given that arm was suffering a lot of damage.

Yet he trusted Tenseiga with all his heart, and he let out a fierce warcry as he swung with every ounce of force and power and strength left in his entire body.

A jagged gash of brilliant magenta light split a seam into the fabric of the air itself, and Sesshoumaru leapt into it with the Tenseiga. Both he and the sword were enveloped in a bright blue glow, and a healing light bathed the dog in energies that mended his bones and regrew his flesh in mere seconds, even flashing away all the damage to his clothes and the blood from his face.

Then, the blue glow mingled with the purplish magenta light, and hundreds of irregular beams of energy like trailing bolts of lightning shot out and smashed through the ranks of all the thousands of Nether creatures, decimating them within just a few moments of utter carnage and destruction.

"Amazing, Tenseiga," Sesshoumaru marvelled out loud, truly wide-eyed in astonishment.

_Just remember, it only really applies to Nether creatures. It would be just about useless in the living realm._

_'That only makes you more impressive, for what other sword has any use in the land of the dead?'_ Sesshoumaru smiled.

Tenseiga pulsed, and Sesshoumaru returned it to it's sheath, looking at the doorway that had been revealed at the end of the pathway once the enemies had been cleared out...

.'.'.

He hadn't seen this door before, nor did he know how or why or when it got there, but he was sure that was where he needed to go, and Tenseiga agreed. Sesshoumaru walked to it, hesitated for but a moment, and then stepped through.

A small peaceful meadow lay beyond. It was a field full of flowers, and a tinkling sound of wind-chimes was faintly heard in the distance. There was a small path, one that was very narrow but well-worn, and Sesshoumaru felt as if the place was very familiar, though he swore he'd never laid eyes on it even once in his entire life.

Walking slowly up the path, he paused as he felt a little tug at his sleeve. But when he looked, there was nothing.

He walked further, coming up to the little house where the wind-chimes hung. Their tinkling noise quieted just a bit as he stepped onto the porch, and he looked around, sniffing the air, hopeful even as his nose caught no whiff of the old scent he was looking for...

"Oi, you silly dog, I don't have that old lump of flesh for you to sniff out anymore," her voice chuckled, and he gasped and whirled, eyes huge, a smile starting to form on his face.

Though she didn't really have a scent at all, she looked the same, and he reached out to embrace her...

And his arms went through her.

"Oh," he paused, then blushed, "oh, I should have figured. Uh, well it's, it's nice to see you, Kagura," he said in the most embarrassed, most shy teenager voice and posture that anyone had ever seen from him.

Kagura just laughed and laughed, though she honestly did wish she could think of something to Say.

Sesshoumaru didn't seem to mind, though, and after a few moments he composed himself and grew more serious as they settled their mirth.

"Kagura, I'm here to bring you back. I know your body was destroyed, but with Tenseiga and this Crystal of Souls, I can return you to life, in a new body. I was told it would take just as long to get back as it took to get here. It was a very long journey, although not so long to the outside world...it was something like a year in here, but in the living realm it was maybe a month? I'm not sure. But I want you to come with me, Kagura. I want you to return to the life you should have had, the life that Naraku robbed you of," Sesshoumaru insisted.

Kagura smiled at him, but something troubling tugged at her expression, and she lowered her head.

"How kind of you, Lord Sesshoumaru, and it must be so wonderful that your Tenseiga has gained so much ability that you can now even bring back those who have died and have no body left. Yes, I can see why I would be the perfect one to test this power on, and although I-"

"Kagura," Sesshoumaru interrupted her, almost incredulous, "do you really think this is a test of Tenseiga's power?"

"Well being the weilder of Tenseiga must mean that eventually you have to hone your techniques, and of course you have to be careful who you try to bring back from the dead the first time or two you-"

"Kagura," Sesshoumaru grew even more incredulous, "did you think that I'd spend a whole year fighting to get to you merely for the sake of some stupid test? Tenseiga guided me here, Kagura, because your soul is uneasy. You aren't at peace."

"Oh? Well, that's true," she hung her head even lower, pausing in thought, "but I don't suppose that I...that I'd find much peace in just living a new life, to be honest. I used to think that what I wanted more than anything was just to be free, but then I realized I wanted...something else...even more. But it's not for me to have."

"Kagura," Sesshoumaru's repitition of her name was finally starting to get her attention, "I came here because I can find no peace in the land of the living until you are no longer dead."

"Tenseiga is that much of a thorn in the side? How unfortunate," she huffed, her head hanging even lower.

Sesshoumaru paused, then spoke very softly.

"No, **_I_ **was the one who fell in love with you, Kagura, not Tenseiga. **_I_** came here to bring you back as my wife...well that is, if you don't have your heart set on somebody else," he smiled at her gently.

Kagura jolted into a straight upright posture, and she froze for a moment, then turned to look at him in a mix of shock and overwhelming glee.

"To...to be your..._your wife?_"

"Alright, alright, you can be the _Husband_ for all I care, just so long as you marry me either way," he said.

Kagura laughed. She had no idea he had a sense of humor, but she was sure ready to find out all about it.

"I'll marry you, I swear it!" she agreed, and the Crystal of Souls began to glow from beneath his Mokomoko-sama, and Tenseiga pulsed at the same time.

Sesshoumaru drew them both out and stared, then looked over at Kagura, who smiled.

"Oh, I understand," she grinned, "my spirit isn't beholden to a body, so if I'm to leave and return to the physical realm, my spirit has to enter this Crystal of Souls. Then you'd have to use Tenseiga and the Crystal with this new body you were speaking of in order to release my soul from the stone. That's how you must bring me back to life."

"So that means..." Sesshoumaru's face fell, and Kagura smiled at him with a bittersweet sad joy.

"Ah, yes, I suppose it does. I'll have to contain myself within this rock, and you'll have to carry on with some old pebble in your pocket until we're both back on the other side. If you like though, we can linger a bit for company. A few minutes longer shouldn't make much difference."

Sesshoumaru agreed, and Tenseiga didn't seem to protest. They lingered for what seemed to be about an hour before Kagura finally gave him that sure signal that she was ready, and whether he liked it or not, he should probably stop stalling too.

So he sighed, wishing he could at least hold her and give her a kiss, but satisfied that he at least got to see her, he let her leap into the Crystal and tucked her precious soul carefully into the space between his armor and his chest, then fled from there as fast as he possibly could...

.'.'.

"He's got her and he's comin' back, alright!" Inuyasha grinned.

"This is always the worst part," Toutousai sighed ominously.

"Just when you think you've pulled it off," Myouga agreed, "that's when everything goes sideways."

"Don't count him out yet, he's not about to give up now that he's got her soul to protect," Shippou told them.

Ah-Un and Moumou now grew a little anxious. This was when they were actually worried, though it wasn't as if anyone else actually noticed their heightened tensions.

**Un, Shishinki is more likely to strike now that Lord Sesshoumaru has used the Crystal of Souls on Kagura.**

_Yes, Ah, I know that. The question is, does Lord Sesshoumaru know that it just became far more dangerous?_

**No, Un, I don't think he's aware of that.**

_Ah, I think you're correct. He doesn't seem to have a clue._

**Doesn't he know that Shishinki's avatar-mother created the Crystal of Souls?**

_I didn't hear anyone mention it. I don't think any of them know that._

**Shouldn't Toutousai know that?**

_Toutousai probably forgot about it. He's getting senile in his old age._

**Moumou knows it though, right?**

_She seems as worried as we are._

**She can see almost anything she wants to, far as I can tell.**

_Yes, she seems to be quite able to discern what's important, far as I can tell._

"Shippou, what makes you so confident that he's going to make it out just as easy as he got in?" Myouga asked.

"_Easy?!_" Inuyasha snorted, whirling with a clenched fist. "You call all of that _**Easy?!**_"

"Relatively speaking, yes," Myouga huffed, crossing all four arms, "you heard the red dragon as well as I. Shishinki won't be left unawares for too much longer, now that Sesshoumaru has interacted with a soul that has belonged to the Netherworld for ten years. Tell me, Inuyasha, how simple do you think it's going to be for him to dodge Shishinki in his own domain, especially because of the beacon he's carrying? A soul crystal is like a bright light in a dark sky to a creature of the Netherworld. Now that it's been filled with a soul, it's luminescence must be ten times what it was before, going by the same analogy respectively. The worst part lies ahead, Inuyasha, make no mistake."

Inuyasha scowled and fell silent, unable to really contest that point no matter how badly he wanted to try.

"If Sesshoumaru's heart is true, Tenseiga will defeat any opponent inside the Netherworld without fail," Shippou was confident, and though Ah-Un and Moumou straightened up their postures in agreement, they were still a bit worried.

This was because they knew Shishinki was inherently linked to the Tenseiga. Since it was made from the Crystal of Souls crafted by his avatar-mother and the Meidou Zangetsuha technique that he had developed, the only part of it that could damage him inside the land of the dead was the soul of the sword, the Fang. And this was the part that tied Sesshoumaru's heart and soul to the blade, his bloodline resonating with the heirloom of his father.

However, Ah-Un and Moumou realized that a fang from a mortal youkai was no kind of weapon to weild against a being inside the Netherworld. To pit Tenseiga against Shishinki would be like pitting a wooden stick against a volcano.

There was only one way to actually defeat Shishinki with the Tenseiga while inside the Netherworld...

**But does he know how to do it?** Ah wondered, a flutter of uncertainty making him toss his mane anxiously.

_Ah, I'm not sure, but now we must simply have faith,_ Un thought, himself a bit listless as he shook his mane too.

.'.'.

Sesshoumaru careened through the blockades of enemies, literally smashing through their ranks and blowing through the other side of their attack formations to outpace them, speeding in the direction that **Felt** right.

A very long time passed. Sesshoumaru's new favorite technique was now very reminiscent of his brother's past-time, turning himself into a battering ram and 'charging blindly with great haste' at all who stood in his way. For the most part, it was rather successful, and he got past a lot of the lesser creatures by simply Not Stopping.

However, all such luck was bound to run short, and it didn't take too terribly long before he found himself eerily alone for a very long time and feeling an oppressive dread begin to grow within his spirit.

A looming shadow slowly rose in the distance, and it's vague form became more refined as it's mass and shape gained definition and context through it's motions.

This was a third dragon, but it was many times the size of the bigger red one, and it gleamed in iridescent colors..._no, wait, that wasn't a sparkling sheen, that was..._

Then, Sesshoumaru saw it. The dragon lifted it's massive head, turning to face him, and Sesshoumaru realized who it was that gazed upon him with those cold, malevolent, triumphant dragon eyes.

This dragon's body was not quite like the others. There were several differences, but the two most notable were the eyes and the hide. The regular eyes were as they should be, but up at the tops of the two prominent horns were other sets of eyes, and there were hundreds of eyes filling the insides of the dragon's wings. Then, instead of what resembled ordinary scales, this dragon's hide whirled with a pattern and depth that was all too familiar.

The Meidou blackness, the infinite depth of the warps and twists of the Netherworld itself, whirled in and around and among the energies around this dragon. A Meidou Dragon within the Meidou Path itself, something that probably should have been paradoxical, but here it was anyhow.

Yet that wasn't the thing that put together the final piece of his identity.

On the tip of one horn, a miniscule fleck of light bounced just enough to make Sesshoumaru focus on that flicker.

As he honed in and narrowed his eyes to refocus for the great distance, he realized what that reflection had been.

The half-mask of Shishinki covered a scarred eye socket at the very tip of the horn.

"Shishinki," Sesshoumaru said weakly, and his entire being was suddenly filled with ice-cold, lead-heavy terror.

"Sesshoumaru, how nice of you to visit. I see you've brought my Mother's old plaything, and your Father's old fang."

With nowhere to run or hide, Sesshoumaru tightened his grip and reflexively gulped back a wave of fear.

"I wish I could stay and chat, but I really must be going," Sesshoumaru tried valiantly, well, if turning tail to try and bolt away as fast as he could was something one could call valiant.

Shishinki laughed and swept just one wing wide. His wingspan was dozens of miles long, and he drew his pinion around the dog to enclose him effortlessly.

"Oh, I'm sure you can make the time," Shishinki teased, rather enjoying this.

Sesshoumaru knew better now. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have been so blind? There was no way he could have gotten away with ignoring the warnings he'd had from the very start. _Since when did the worst thing that could happen ever fail to happen, and then some?_ Not only had he encountered Shishinki, but Shishinki was one of the unimaginably invincible Hell-dragons that he had absolutely no fucking chance of even drawing a drop of blood from. He couldn't transform into his true form and sink his teeth in far enough to get past a single scale in a soft spot.

_In short,_ Sesshoumaru realized, _I'm completely fucked._

Yet as he felt that despair creep up on him, a stronger wave of emotion hit him like a punch to the gut.

**_Kagura!_**

And he stopped as if he'd hit an invisible wall, still, silent in the middle of the air, Tenseiga clenched tightly in his hand...

"Shishinki," Sesshoumaru spoke, and his voice was rent with emotion that he no longer cared to hide, "let Kagura go free, please. You have no grudge against her, just me. Do what you want with my soul, but please...allow her to be among the living once more."

"Poor pitiful whelp, don't you remember why her heart aches? Kagura yearns to be with you, not to be alive at any cost. How would that even help her, Sesshoumaru?"

"I..."

Sesshoumaru clutched Tenseiga so hard that his claws were curling in on his own hand. He drew blood from his own palm but he hadn't the faintest idea he was doing so.

"I can't just willingly surrender her soul back to you. You won't let me go, now that you've got me here. What am I supposed to do? Is this all...all in vain? Tenseiga...Shishinki, did you really just use my sword against me, to bring me here into your trap in the Nether Realm?"

"Oh, that's what you thought? No, I couldn't do that, although it would make sense for you to Think I could. Your Father's fang, anchored in the Living Realm, prevents me from interfering with it while it dwells there. Now, in here, I can subdue it's powers, or just smash it to bits...yet though I'm immune, I cannot call it as you seem to think. No, Tenseiga is loyal to you, Sesshoumaru. However, that Crystal of Souls was made by my Mother, and Tenseiga carries the energy of both the Crystal and my Meidou. Near each other, the Crystal of Souls calls to certain ones it knows, heedless of whether it's own friends are enemies unto each other. It keened when you used it to contain the soul of this Kagura you wish to save, and thusly I knew exactly where you were. I'd been told you were running about for some time now, but there was no need for me to try and stop you until you were trying to leave."

Sesshoumaru had only been paying attention with half his mind as the dragon Shishinki gloated and stroked his own ego as any megalomaniac would. His head was spinning, his heart was about to burst, he had no thought towards the punctures he was deepening in both hands now as both fists clenched, and his teeth were gritted as his head went lower than usual, fighting an urge he couldn't quite define.

Part of him wanted to roar. Part of him wanted to rage. Part of him wanted to scream. Part of him wanted to swear.

"Shishinki, please...is there...is there any way for Kagura to be at peace?"

"Kagura yearns to be with you," Shishinki repeated.

Sesshoumaru shuddered.

The part of him that won the battle of emotions was the part that wanted to cry.

"Dammit," he hissed, and tears fell in streams as he sniffed and trembled, "you mean there's nothing you can do to put her soul in a state of rest? With all your power, Shishinki, you can't ensure that she's at peace?"

"The only way that can happen is if her wish is fulfilled. Kagura yearns to be with you, Sesshoumaru."

"I can't put her through what you're about to put me through," Sesshoumaru finally brought his eyes up, bloodshot and bleary and full of tears, "there's no way that could put her at ease, seeing you torture me...could you, could you create an illusion for her that we escaped, that we lived our lives together...could you make her feel at peace that way, Shishinki?"

"Her soul is not bound by the senses the body uses. A soul without the flesh to hinder it is not easily deceived to think that a mere illusion is another soul they love so dearly," Shishinki replied, and said yet again, "and Kagura yearns to be with you, Sesshoumaru."

"**I KNOW** SHE DOES! **WHY** DO YOU _KEEP **SAYING** THAT,_ SHISHINKI?!**WHY DO YOU _TAUNT_ ME SO?!**" Sesshoumaru cried, and that cry became a roar, but this was a roar not of rage, but of _**Hurt.**_ A roar of defeat and anguish, of his soul tearing itself from the inside out with agony and regret. This wasn't a roar of a frenzied hope of winning a battle. This was a roar that bore the burdens of a thousand screams of pain from deep within the youkai's heart. This was a roar of loss, of sorrow, of shame.

[It was a sound that shook his friends to the very core, but their reactions would have to summarily dismiss themselves for the rest of the narrative. Sorry, fourth wall, you had to be addressed at some point. Moving along now.]

"I keep saying that because you must understand that there is only _one_ way her soul will be at rest."

"So she cannot be at peace, then. You're going to take my soul and she's going back to where she was, and she'll-"

"Sesshoumaru," Shishinki interrupted him, "you're full of assumptions, little whelp, aren't you?"

Something about that casual tone made Sesshoumaru _shut the fuck up_ for the first time since he'd realized who it was, and _actually_ _pay attention_ to what was going on. Not that he knew what to think, really, but this wasn't at all the kind of thing he'd expected.

Having finally gotten some undivided attention, Shishinki waved one claw in the air and swirled up a speck of his energy into an avatar-the likeness of the human form Sesshoumaru had fought, minus the half-mask and plus the rest of the regular face.

"I find that it's a bit easier to talk with a like form, especially when it comes to facial expressions," he said with a grin, looking back at himself, "since my smile is a little too big to even see all of it from here. Now then, here's the part I don't understand. You _seem_ to think that I'm holding some kind of grudge against you."

Sesshoumaru blinked.

"You mean, you're not?"

"Sesshoumaru, I had a grudge against your Father. It was settled the day you and your brother sent me back here. He suffered for what he did to me, I saw it all in the way you two reacted to me, to each other, to your swords. There was enough body language to tell a thousand tales of his disjointed life. I have already had my revenge against the one who wronged me. Touga may rest easy now, but he was restless while he slept among the living. That's far more satisfying than beating the stuffing out of his children," Shishinki laughed as a dark grin crossed his face. "Besides, the life I lived as Shishinki The Youkai was a mere speck of my soul's existence. I've rejoined the mass of my memories which is my eternal soul. The Shishinki you met was but a scrap of my persona, and a darker one at that. Here in the Nether, my thousands of lifetimes are all within my mind, and I have no such petty grudge. Now on to the more important matters at hand. Sesshoumaru, I can offer you a bargain, instead of just a waystation. I could bridge the gap right here and now, letting you and Kagura go free, Crystal and Tenseiga and all. There's just one little thing I would require."

_Oh, here it is,_ Sesshoumaru thought grimly. _This is where Shishinki will take my soul._

Braced for the question, Sesshoumaru put on a stoic, guarded expression, slightly expectant, listening but wary.

Shishinki smiled.

"Give me..."

Sesshoumaru winced.

"...all of your clothes."

_Ah, wow, that took an awful weird and unexpected turn!_

**Indeed, Un, indeed it did! Looks like a Nether Lord like Shishinki has more humor than anger in him.**

_Hm, he truly has been around so long that the little things don't bother him._

**But they sure do Amuse him! Look, look at that blush! Sesshoumaru's gonna die right here and now, Un!**

_Yeah, die of embarrassment!_

"My...my clothes? That's what you said, right?"

"I mean, I could ask for your soul, but I've got an abundance of those. Now what's rare down here is real silk and elegant taste. I know the white fur isn't a garment, and I know your armor is special, but I want the rest. You can just keep your fur wrapped around the armor, since that won't stay on your body without the sash. That is, unless you'd rather just spend another ten months or so fighting through all the-"

"No, no, you can have the clothes, here, take them all!" Sesshoumaru said hurriedly, stripping down and flinging all the clothing over to the avatar of Shishinki. _I have no idea what you want them for, and I never Want to know either!_

The avatar smiled and gathered up all the clothing in his arms, then spun rapidly until it was a whirl of black and white, then when he stopped, he was wearing Sesshoumaru's now former outfit, his previous attire apparently just an illusion, because it had completely vanished.

"How does it look on me, Sesshoumaru?"

Sesshoumaru blushed.

"It looks...fabulous?"

"Now make sure that fur of yours has a good tight hold on that armor and that Crystal, and raise Tenseiga up with both hands, and when you feel it pulse three times, you swing with all your might."

As Shishinki said this, Inuyasha finally felt Tetsusaiga rattle at his side.

"Tetsusaiga?" Inuyasha gasped, drawing the sword and watching as it whirled a faint black-starred pattern...

Tenseiga pulsed once.

Tetsusaiga pulsed once.

Ah-Un stepped back to where Moumou was, away from Inuyasha. Toutousai took noticed of this and also stepped back. Myouga stayed on the smith's shoulder, but edged behind the side of his neck. Shippou and the two apprentices then finally caught on and stood well away with the others.

Tenseiga pulsed twice.

Tetsusaiga pulsed twice.

Shishinki raised his hand and smiled.

"Have fun with Kagura, Sesshoumaru," he grinned. "I'll see you again when you die."

Tenseiga pulsed three times.

Tetsusaiga pulsed three times.

Sesshoumaru swung.

_"Meidou Zangetsuha!"_

Inuyasha swung.

**"Meidou Zangetsuha!"**

Sesshoumaru leaped through the Meidou...

Inuyasha shifted to peer into the Meidou...

**"AAAAAHHHHHH!"**

_"AAAAAAHHHHH!"_

Ah obligingly walked over, amused. Of course Un had to accompany Ah, and he was also very amused.

Sesshoumaru had landed naked on top of Inuyasha, and the tangled mess of red and red-faced was most hilarious.

Relief, amazement, and more relief took a lot of precedence over anyone spending too much time worrying about his nudity, though, and Shippou barrelled into the dog taiyoukai before he could even climb off his brother.

**_"SESSHOUMARU!"_**

"Shippou," Sesshoumaru blinked, then snorted as he tightened one arm to return the fox's deathgrip hug, "well, I see you missed me, runt, but I can't fathom why. All I ever do is beat you up."

"Oh, stuff it, you know you love me, and I love you too dammit, you big idiot dog!"

Sesshoumaru smiled. _Alright, I won't deny it._ Especially not now that Inuyasha had silently but meaningfully wrapped them both up in his own arms, desperate to hide his tears.

"Moumou showed you everything, didn't she?" Sesshoumaru asked instead.

"Everything important," Maku, the senior apprentice, nodded and crossed his arms.

"And then a lot of things that weren't important," Saitou, the junior apprentice, also spoke.

"**FOXLINGS!**" Shippou snapped, and they yipped and scurried away.

"Uh, we'll go find you some new clothes!"

"Yes, some close news! I mean snow cues! I mean, no clues! AAAGGHHH, what am I SAYING?!" the fox shrieked and ran.

Sesshoumaru actually laughed and hugged Shippou closer.

"Oh, that was good, I needed a laugh," he chuckled, but then with a firm push, he broke free of them and drew out the Crystal of Souls from his Mokomoko-sama, which had mostly curled around his armor, "I hope you figured out some kind of body for her..."

Shippou smiled and gestured.

"She's over there, and she looks just like you remember. Well, with a couple of minor adjustments. No spider scar, and her scent is...well, she doesn't smell like Naraku, that's the important thing to remember. It was a very tiny price to pay to make her a body of living flesh and blood. Oh, also, I...I don't know exactly how...accurate...I was when it came to..." and here Shippou blushed and coughed, "you see, I had to use an illusion to-well, it was a little complicated, but I..."

Sesshoumaru, having knelt by the dormant body, gingerly rolled her over, taking a long look at her face as if seeing her for the first time. He'd barely kept track of anything the fox said after the first two sentences.

_Well actually,_ he told himself, _I Am technically seeing her for the first time. This body is brand new._

"Shippou, hush," he said absently, and the fox fell silent as Sesshoumaru drew out the Crystal of Souls and placed it on the dormant body's chest.

Sesshoumaru stood, drew Tenseiga from it's sheath, and swung it over the Crystal and the body.

The cave fell silent, and everyone held their breaths.

Two seconds passed, then three.

Then the Crystal glowed, her heart throbbed much more strongly, and her eyes flew open as she sat up and gasped.

Sesshoumaru fell to his knees and hugged her.

"**Kagura!**"

"Se..._Sesshoumaru_," she stared in disbelief as he held her tightly and cried in relief. All the way up until he'd gotten her soul into this body, the torment hadn't been over for him. All the time until he'd accomplished that, he had half-expected that he'd be thwarted at the end, that the Crystal wouldn't bring her soul to this body, that he would have failed and been alone and miserable forever without her...

"Kagura, you're alive. You're finally alive again," he whispered, and he drew his head back just enough to kiss her, his tears brushing against her cheek as her own tears welled up in her eyes.

They spent a long two minutes locked in a passionate, tearful kiss and a tight embrace, but when they finally drew back from each other, one certain red-faced hanyou had just about enough of seeing his brother naked and pressing himself against the love of his life...

Inuyasha blushed furiously as he gingerly dropped his jacket onto his brother's back, startling them both.

"Listen, I get it, but I don't wanna watch, okay?" the hanyou coughed and moved to walk off hurriedly, "just cover up with this so you can find somewhere to go and bring it back when you're done, and no funny stains or smells!"

Sesshoumaru blushed and blinked, unsure what to say.

Kagura burst into laughter.

"Oh, you're both funny! And you get along so well now! I hadn't much sense of what was really going on when I felt around with the moving of the breeze. There's so much for me to learn. However, Inuyasha, I don't think the first or only thing I want to do with my new body is..." here she blushed, trying to be polite, "volunteer it for plunder."

"You know something, I'm not a pervert just because I thought that, but I'll tell you one thing, it won't take very long for you to change your mind, 'cause you been eyin' my brother since the first time I saw you look at 'im, and he's never stopped thinking of you, and you know what? You two are Exactly Why I don't have **My _DAMN JACKET_ On!**"

"That's your own fault," Myouga stated the obvious.

"I don't think that was the point he was trying to make," Shippou snickered.

Sesshoumaru and Kagura both burst into laughter, and since Kagura realized she had clothes and a blanket, she flung Inuyasha's jacket back to him and wrapped Sesshoumaru in the blanket, staring into his eyes as he stared into hers.

"Yeah, okay, he's right, I see this happening soon, especially since Sesshoumaru's already naked and my Damn Apprentices aren't gonna have enough brains between the two of 'em to fetch clothes any quicker than four hours or more from now," Shippou huffed, "Hey, hey YOU TWO, with the **_Romantic Adult Eyes_** thing going on!"

Sesshoumaru smiled rougishly and let the Mokomoko-sama uncoil and set his armor down gently off to the side, then wrapped himself up sufficiently between the blanket and his fluff before standing and extending his hand to Kagura.

"Kagura, now that we've both made it out of the Netherworld alive...will you be my wife?" he asked.

Playful as she was, Kagura smiled coyly and turned her head slightly.

"Oh? I thought you said I had other choices. You told me I could be the Husband if I wanted."

While the rest of his friends all started to giggle, Sesshoumaru blushed and bowed slightly at the waist, smiling.

"Indeed, and I meant it too. I'd be the luckiest wife in the world," he said graciously.

"Such a proper lady you are!" she laughed and threw herself into his arms.

"Such a fine gentleman you are," he chuckled in reply.

"_WILL YOU TWO GO DO IT SOMEWHERE **PRIVATE?!** **I CAN **_**SMELL**_** THE LUST ON YOU!**_" Inuyasha blushed furiously as the fresh and strong scent of arousal wafted over to his nose.

"Alright, alright, we're going," Kagura giggled and tugged at Sesshoumaru's blanket, "come on, Wife."

"As you wish, Husband," Sesshoumaru snorted amicably, then led her into the maze, "there's a little room in here I found while I was wandering around in my thoughts..."

Ah-Un laid next to Tenseiga, which had slid down from the dog's grip and came to rest on the floor right near the spot where Kagura had been reborn into her new body. Very close to the sword was the sheath, and a bit further away was the now inert Crystal of Souls.

Moumou came over and rested herself nearby as well. The three-eyed cow and the two-headed dragon shared a few looks that communicated much more than mere language could convey, and they smiled.

_Tenseiga would have abandoned Sesshoumaru to his own fate if his heart hadn't been pure. That in itself was all that Shishinki had needed to know. At each and every turn, Tenseiga would not waver, did not falter, refused to leave the side of the one whose heart had been chosen to resonate with it's song._

Tenseiga, unbeknownst to any of the living save the two-headed dragon and the sacred cow, and perhaps the smith whose senility made it impossible to tell what he recalled anymore, had been made with a special soul that had been contained in the Crystal when it had been retrieved by Touga before. In choosing to stay with Sesshoumaru rather than return to the Nether and it's true form, the soul of Tenseiga had turned aside Shishinki's wrath.

Ah and Un both glanced about, then Ah gently picked up the Tenseiga by the hilt and Un raised the sheath. They put the blade snugly in it's fitted covering and gently set it with the dog's armor, and Moumou mooed at them.

_Ah, she knows, doesn't she?_

**Sure she does, Un. I doubt it's ever going to be relevant, though.**

Un looked over at Ah. Ah blinked at Un.

And they smiled.

**.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.**

**.**

**THE END! :D**

Alright, not Exactly "The End" of all of this storyline, BUT as I said, it seemed to be a nice place to stop. Having a good closing point to settle on, I think, is perhaps even more important than having a good start. During my writing of this, I was satisfied with this ending for quite a while before I decided I wanted to continue writing and so this is also how I want to present it to you.

Please let me know what you think, and stay tuned for my next installment, soon to be revealed! **[**And picking up LITERALLY Right Where This Left Off...**_LITERALLY_!]**

A special thanks goes to RoyalBlueRoses, who has been a wonderful supporter of this fic and a cause for smiling and inspiring "this author's" efforts! Thanks so much! 3 =^.^= :D XP


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